


The United Comics Saga: The Legend of the Dragon

by GhostDragon42



Series: United Comics [1]
Category: Justice League - All Media Types, Marvel (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Avengers/Justice League, Crossover, F/M, Identity Reveal, Justice League/Avengers, Marvel DC Merged World, Marvel Norse Lore, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse, Post-The Heroes of Olympus, marvel/dc crossover - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-01-28 10:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 108,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12604552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostDragon42/pseuds/GhostDragon42
Summary: My name is Katelyn O'Neill. I hold a PH. D in Computer Science and run the largest covert Superhero network in the world, I am also paraplegic. But the story I'm about to tell you isn't about me, though I do feature in it quite often, no the story you're about to hear is called the Legend of the Dragon - well my version of it at least. (Multi-crossover Story) (Part 1 of the United Comics Series)





	1. The Man that Fell out of the Sky

**Disclaimer:** Rights to all characters and places in the story belong to their respective owners.

 **Warning:** This story contains coarse language. Reader Discretion is advised.

_"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a world full of heroes? Did you ever imagine what it would feel like to be a superhero? To do something that no one else could and make a difference? Of course, you have, who wouldn't. I always did. But the big question I always found myself asking was what I would do with them? Would I be strong enough to be a hero? Or would I use whatever gift I gained for selfish reasons? Turns out these questions of a comic book fangirl would one day be serious issues me and my friends would have to consider. My name is Katelyn O'Neill. I hold a PH. D in Computer Science and run the largest covert Superhero network in the world, I am also paraplegic. But the story I'm about to tell you isn't about me, though I do feature in it quite often, no the story you're about to hear is called the Legend of the Dragon - well my version of it at least."_

_– Katelyn O'Neill (Oracle)_

* * *

# The Man that Fell out of the Sky

 

Taylor sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the rough paper envelope she was holding delicately in her hand. She had no doubt that once upon a time the envelope had been a crisp white, the writing on the front as clear as daylight. But the years had not been kind it. The paper had taken on a slight yellowy tint and the bottom left corner was blackened. The black ink writing was cracked and faded, but the single word was still visible even now. ‘Faith’.

Taylor used her free hand to wipe away the tear sliding unbidden down her cheek. She had promised herself she wouldn’t cry. Not until she finished reading it at least. She knew that if the document were too get wet, the envelope would be damaged beyond even Stark’s ability to repair. That in itself was a testament to how old it was. According to Ginny - or her father Howard really - the only reason the letter had survived this long was because it was crafted using Wakandan technology and sealed in a deoxygenized vault within a lost city for over 6000 years.

Taylor cracked the seal and watched as the envelope disintegrated, falling to dust in her hands, the smell of old paper filling the room. She dusted her hand off on her jeans, and unfolded the paper, which, unlike the envelope, was still white in colour, the ink clear and easily written.

_“My dearest Faith._

_Barring some incredible circumstance, it’s unlikely I’ll ever see you again, so I’m entrusting this letter to the Elves to ensure that, when the time comes, it will find its way to you._

_I know I’ll probably never get to say it again, and it breaks my heart, but I wanted to tell you I love you one last time.”_

Taylor ran her finger over the paper next to the word ‘love’ and smiled slightly through her tears at the indentation above it. A spot of water.

_“You asked me once if had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. And while I can honestly say I have told you the truth. I may not have told you all of it. I’ve had an amazing life, full of joy and wonder, hope and fear, dread and trauma. But through it all, undeniably the best part was getting to raise you. And I feel, if this is the end, that you have a right to know, what really happened.”_

Taylor frowned as she read that part. What didn’t she know?

_“As you already know, my story isn’t just about me. It has a lot of intertwining narratives spun in. Friends, family, doppelgängers and strangers all have their part to play. But I guess the easiest place to start is with me. So here it goes. And no, the irony of this doesn’t escape me._

_It began a long time ago (or a long time from now, depending on your perspective) in a place called Australia (that’s the continent everyone forgets exists), in the year 2017…”_

* * *

 

 

Riker Celestial was panicking. That in is self should have been a warning that something very, very bad was about to happen, because Riker Celestial never panicked. Ever!

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Very Panicked.

"A.T.M.A.! Put everything we got into the thrusters." He yelled at the AI as he wrestled with the controls to stop his ship from crashing.

"I'm sorry boss, I don't have any more power to give you. The cloak is about to fail."

"Well, this has been a fun little side trip hasn't it."

"I don't think fun is the word I would have used," A.T.M.A. told him.

"When I get back to the Multiversity, remind me to tell Jack to do his own dirty work next time!"

"If you say so boss."

The cloaked ship was passing over a city when power gave out completely.

"Boss the cloak is gone we're fully visible, estimated crash site 12km south offfff…..." A.T.M.A.'s voice shut down as the ship went into free fall. As the ground came closer and closer to the front window, Riker sighed, closed his eyes, and gave into the inevitable crash which was no doubt going to hurt, a lot. The Jumper hit the turf and crashed into the side of a hill, the front windscreen shattering and a traffic pole slamming straight through his right lung. As the ship finally came to a stop, he opened his eyes and observed his situation. The front of the Jumper was trashed, the controls were shot, and he was impaled by a rather thick metal poll. He wasn't getting out of this anytime soon, and his body was no doubt completely wasted and irreparable even by Asmerian standards. The humans would likely already be on their way to the crash site. If it wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D. or A.R.G.U.S., then it would be someone else, that was one thing you could always count on with humans, their shady government organisations. He lifted his right hand up and looked at the golden ring that adorned his right index finger. He couldn't let it fall into their hands.

"Choose," Riker said before closing his eyes and waiting. The ring let out a drop of white energy that flew up and out of the wrecked ship and into the sky.

_'Dimensional sector scan for sentient replacement initiated.'_

I was walking back to the school boarding house from the library after a study session. That was when it happened. Streaking out of the sky was a white light. The tiny ball of light, which couldn't have been larger than a golf ball, stopped dead in front of me causing me to drop the physics book I was carrying. The light continued to sit there, hovering for a minute before speaking.

_'Josh O'Neill. You have been chosen.'_

The light then rapidly expanded, enveloping me in a ball of white energy before rocketing back into the sky once again, with me in tow.

The energy ball dropped me in the middle of a forest, in front of what looked like a spaceship. 'A spaceship, seriously?' As I slowly moved towards the ship, I thought I heard the sound of someone breathing. Someone must be in there! With that thought, I raced over to what looked like the front portion of the ship and looked inside. What I saw shocked me. The entire compartment was trashed, and sitting in the pilot seat was a guy with a traffic pole sticking out of his chest. As I approached, the man opened his eyes and gave a small laugh before grimacing in pain. His black hair was matted with blood, and the brown of his eyes was misted over. He looked kind of like what I would expect an older version of me to look like.

"Oh God! Ok, I'm going to call an ambulance," I said taking out my phone.

"No! Don't. This body is done for anyway, times up. Come here." He croaked.

"The ring, it chose you." the dying man (who I assumed was an alien of some sort) said, sitting in his palm was a golden ring with pulsing white veins. "My name is Riker Celestial, one of the 52 survivors. The ring is fueled by your emotions, using them to make your thoughts and wishes a reality, anything you can imagine, you can do and create. But, while your emotions give you power, they are also your greatest weakness. I give you this mission, use the power to help those who cannot help themselves. Josh O'Neill of Earth 025, Do you accept?"

It took me all of one second to form an answer. "Hell Yeah."

The guy exhaled one last time before the light behind his eyes faded away leaving nothing but the white, which was kind of creepy.

The ring in his palm began glowing with white light and floated out of his hand and over to me, latching onto my right index finger. Then the ring started speaking again.

_'Josh O'Neill You have the ability to master the Emotional Spectrum. Bonding process initiated._

"What... Ahhh!" Energy exploded from the ring grafting over my body like burning hot wax. The pain was excruciating. Once it enveloped my entire body, it cooled into a black suit with faded lines all over it. Over my heart was a flaming comet symbol. On my left shoulder was another symbol that made little sense. A three-armed star with a broken forth arm.

"Holy Shit!"

_'Bonding Process Complete'_

That was when I heard them. Helicopters. I had to get out of here.

_'Emotional Trigger detected. Willpower recognised. Ring Online.'_

The faded veins of the suit started glowing a bright white as it said this. Then I noticed a beeping sound coming from the seat where the guy was. A little red light was flashing on the control panel. I had seen enough sci-fi movies to know what that was. A self-destruct. I looked back at the guy in time to see his body start glowing, white energy pouring out of his body and dissipating into the atmosphere.

_'Threat detected. Engaging Defensive Mode. Initiating Retreat.'_

I could feel and see sparks of white electricity sparking off my body. I took a step away from the ship and the electricity released, hurtling me almost 500m away from the crash site in a second.

"Wow! How the… What the… How did I do that."

_'Emergency defense protocol initiated in response to the external threat.'_

"What?"

_'Emergency defense protocol initiated in response to the external threat.'_

"Yes, but how did I do… that."

_'Drawing from the Speed-Force allows the bearer to exhibit the abilities of a Speed-Force Conduit.'_

"In English, please."

_'The situation allowed for the bestowal of temporary Superspeed.'_

"That is cool."

The explosion behind me caused me to turn around. The ship had detonated. The noise was like a thunderclap, but I could have sworn I saw a blue light for a fraction of a second.

_'Scanners detecting individuals wearing S.H.I.E.L.D insignias. Recommend immediate retreat.'_

"What's 'shield'?"

_'Insufficient time to explain.'_

"Ok then. So superspeed. What else can this thing do?" I said raising the hand with the ring on it up to my eyes to look at it.

_'Ring allows manifestation of thought into reality.'_

"Wait so the ring allows you to do and create anything you can imagine?"

_'Yes. Contact with S.H.I.E.L.D in t-minus 20 seconds.'_

I turned and looked around, and sure enough, I could hear movement nearby.

"Well if it can really do anything than flying is a good start." As soon as I had the thought, the lights on the suit blazed white once again, and I felt my self-launch up past the treetops and into the sky.

"Oh Yeh! This is awesome!" I stopped at what must have been 200m in the air. "How is this even possible?"

_'The ring channels the wearer's emotions to capture, absorb and redirect any form of energy.'_

"And why is it now glowing green?" I asked it, noticing that the veins in the ring had changed colour from white to emerald green.

_'Green is the colour of Willpower in the Emotional Spectrum. The ring will change hue to reflect your emotional status.'_

"Kind of like a mood ring. You know what science later. Right now let's have some fun." And with that, I directed my thoughts to propel me forward, and like a bullet from a gun away I was, leaving a trail of white dust behind me flying (Ha FLYING!) towards the city.

I was weaving through the skyscrapers of the city, looking down at the cars on the street from 250m above them, and nobody noticed me. I guess what Halt always said was true after all, "People never look up."

_'Alert! Threat to civilian life detected. Location 15km from present position at 5 o'clock high.'_

I spun around to see what the ring was talking about and I felt my eyes zoom into an A380 with a smoking left engine.

_'Estimated death toll is 543 people.'_

Making a decision I flew off in the direction of the plane, that was getting closer and closer to the ground every second.

As I approached the plane, I saw that it had its landing gear down as if were preparing to land, but from what I could see there was no place a plane of this size could possibly land. But it didn't have to land. The Ocean! That would have to do.

I flew above the plane and tried to formulate some sort of plan. Then it came to me, wasn't there a Star Trek Episode similar to this? Putting all my concentration into it, I closed my eyes, held out my arms and imagined a giant grappling clamp hooked around the fuselage with a tow rope back to me. I opened my eyes and there in front of me, manifested out of thin air was exactly what I saw in my head, except white. I didn't think I imagined it white, but ok. I pulled hard and forced the plane to slow to a stop before lowering it down and placing it softly in the water. I let the grapple fade away and sighed, maintaining concentration that long had been incredibly straining. Then a bright light was shined on me causing me to squint my eyes, camera lights.

_'Civilians approaching. Concealing Identity.'_

Suddenly, what felt like a pair of dark tinted sports glasses appeared on my face. I turned around and dived straight down and into the water imagining an air bubble around me as I splashed into the water. The glasses molded onto my face like goggles, and I pictured my feet with jet boots blasting me towards the coast. I walked out of the water on a deserted beach, no part of me wet. Then my watch beeped. 7:00. Shit! I thought "Up" and I shot into the sky. I looked down at the ring and smiled.

"This is the going to be the start of a beautiful friendship."

 

 


	2. The Legend Begins

_"No one escapes tragedy, everyone experiences loss. It's what you do about it that defines who you are. Do you wallow in self-pity? Do you swear revenge and hunt for vengeance? Do you accept it and let it go? Do you cut yourself off from the world to stop yourself from ever feeling pain again? Or do you rise up and become the best you can be because of it? A wise man one said, "When you go through a crucible, you come out the stronger for it, or you let it beat you, and you will never soar." Truer words were never spoken. That's what makes people Heroes."_

–  _Clark Kent (Superman)_

* * *

# The Legend Begins

That was how it started. Well, at least how my heroic career got started. My journey to becoming 'the Dragon' however happened a year and a half before that. I'll always remember the date. 29th of June, 2016. Two days before my sixteenth birthday. The Day of Disaster. My father was a mining contractor, running mines across the globe. My family lived overseas, where my Dad was based. It was the start of the school holidays, and we were going on a holiday to America, where I had always wanted to go. I was on a plane headed to Los Angeles when it happened, so I didn't know until over a day later. Ironically, I was detained by the American border security because my story didn't match up. I said my family were supposed to arrive before me, but according to the customs officials, they never did. Eventually, they pieced it all together. My family was killed in a terrorist attack at Istanbul Airport. Ten minutes after I took off from Dubai. Now I was in Los Angeles, where I was supposed to meet them, no idea what I was doing. My family was dead, and I fell into a deep and dark depression. The Australian government arranged for me to be brought back to Australia early. My dad's company agreed to continue paying me my Dad's salary until my 21st birthday and they agreed to pay for my schooling as 'compensation' for my loss. The boarding school I went too allowed me to stay in my dorm over the holidays on the condition I feed myself, to keep me out of the system. I remember never feeling so lost. I had taken most things in my life for granted and now… and now. Those two weeks were the longest in my life. Sitting for the major part alone in my room in boarding. When school resumed, I still wasn't leaving my room to do more than eat, I didn't even bother going to class, nobody made me. The school councilors all said I needed time when what, with the benefit of hindsight, I really needed the opposite.

My best friend realised that and made a goal, to wake me from my stupor. Her name was Katelyn Sheppard, she was a boarder, like me. Her grandma had brought her to Australia from Gotham City after her parents were mysteriously killed. Kate had made her life about trying to figure out what happened to them. She was a complete natural with computers, so she had dedicated her career to all things cyber, to dig up some clue as to what happened. She was shunned by many of the people at school because of her links to Gotham (the biggest crime pit in the world) and her brains, despite the fact that she was one of by the boys as one of the hottest girls in school. But she didn't care, not in the slightest, she had a few friends, and she had her mission. In her opinion what else did she need?

Until the same thing that happened to her happened to her best friend. She refused to let me sit in my depression and waste my life away. So, she snuck across from the female boarding house to the male one and headed up to my room. She then called my phone and told me to open the door. After making her wait outside for fifteen minutes hoping she would simply leave I eventually opened it. She was sitting on the floor cross-legged, wearing a white tank top and a pair of night pants. She stood up and looked me in the eyes.

"How you doing? Haven't seen you in a while." She said. I didn't reply, I just hugged her, and she was content with that. She stayed with me late into the night before she returned to her room, leaving me alone to order my thoughts.

On Monday morning I went to school. I decided to use my best friend as an example, as a role model. I crafted my own mission. I couldn't help my family, I knew that, so I made a goal. I would dedicate my life to saving people that I could save instead of mourning those I couldn't. I put more effort into my studies than I ever had before, I put everything I had into becoming the best person that I could be.

We didn't talk about that night. No one else, not even our close friends ever knew it happened. But we knew, and it added a new dimension to our relationship that I had never considered before. It took a compulsory school dinner a term later to force me to acknowledge my feelings. What do you do when your best friend, a friend who was with you through the darkest period of your life, becomes something more to you? I certainly didn't know. I made the mistake of confiding in my other best friend Alex. All he did was get up and do a dance. Why? Because he had a $100 bet on us, (how did he put it?) 'hooking' up. Suffice it to say, he was no help. So, when the dinner came up, I decided to gather my wits and concur my fear, and I asked her to be my partner to the dinner. She said yes. That was the start of our real relationship. She later told me that she had had the biggest crush on me for ages beforehand, but she was waiting for me to make the first move (as you can imagine that made me feel kind of stupid).

I stayed at her grandfather's home over the summer holidays, it wasn't like I had anywhere else to go. Kate's grandfather was really nice and accepting as well. He went back to Gotham for a week over Christmas to see his other grandkids, so, Kate and I were alone in the house. We celebrated Christmas Day and New Year's together, just us. Looking back on it, that was probably one of the happiest moments of my life. That was three months before the crash. Before I got the ring.

Naturally she and our other friends Alex, Maisie and Sam were the first people I told what happened. The ring helped with that by showing a recording of the moment. A few months earlier Alex and I had discovered a large bunker under the school. It was unused, probably dating back to the late 1800's, and we didn't think anybody, even the staff knew about it but us, so we made it our top secret headquarters, using the entrance through an old sewer hatch outside the Boarding House as access. We put together our money and got our hands on some computers for Katelyn to use, which with Alex's help, she rigged up to do the things she needed them to do. We also got our hands on two TV's that we mounted, a couple of desks and chairs we 'borrowed' from the school and a couch (that folded out into a bed in case of emergencies). The place was quite homely once we were done with it.

We worked out of what we called 'the Lair' for a good nine months. It was so much fun, making a difference. The media called me 'the Dragon.'

 

Then it all fell apart. S.H.I.E.L.D, the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. They were a bigger problem than the criminals and other things I faced. They spent three months tracking me, trying to figure out who I was, or rather 'what' I was. Eventually, they figured it out.

* * *

**November 25 th, 2017**

**Brisbane, Australia**

_Federalism is a government system where power is divided amongst multiple levels of government. The Federalist system is used in Australia, the United States, Canada and other countries with larger territories. Its opposite is the Unitary System, where all power is vested in a single federal government. The United Kingdom and New Zealand both use this system, as do many other countr…._

Gunfire broke through my concentration, and as a cohort, everyone in the exam hall spun around, staring at the big wooden doors as they were pushed open by twenty men in black clothing. My hand instantly went to my pocket.

“Hands in the air now!!!” the leader of the men yelled, pointing his gun at the teacher at the head of the room. Everyone did as they were told, me included. I hadn’t reached the ring in my pocket. Shit. I glanced at my girlfriend Katelyn, who was sitting opposite me, and mouthed “I’ve got this.”

“Everyone in the middle of the room!! Your all hostages now.” Five guys knocked the tables in the middle of the room to the side while the rest gathered us up like herding cattle. Forcing us into a tight group, the other five men walked outside. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could see outside the door. It looked like there were at least ten more people outside. Some of them were setting up some sort of tripod. Most likely a camera of some kind. But what struck me were their weapons. They were high quality, military grade if I had to guess. So how did these guys, whoever they are, get their hands on them?

“Who are you?” One of the teachers, Mr Cook, said, standing at the front of the group.

“We’re here to cleanse this place of your filth…” He said something I didn’t understand. But I’ve lived in the Middle East and I know what Arabic sounds like. I also know what a natural Arabic accent sounds like. And that wasn’t one.

I pushed my way over Katelyn, Maisie and Sam, which wasn’t easy considering we all still had our hands in the air.

I didn’t speak. We all knew speaking would get us shot. And that was a best-case scenario. I shook my head at the unasked question. The ring was still in my pocket.

“Alright everyone on the ground now and keep your hands on your heads.” The leader shouted.

They were acting like terrorists. But it didn’t feel right. I know terrorists. I know how they operate. I’ve been researching terrorist cells ever since my parents and sister were killed in Istanbul. Why here? Why now? What’s there motive? It didn’t make sense. Why… inside the box. Don’t think inside the box. That’s what Mum would say. If there’s no logical reason why someone’s doing something in a situation, change the situation. The guns. The clothing. Why was it black, like military gear? Wouldn’t terrorists be trying to blend in? But what if they’re doing the opposite? They’re trying to be noticed. Trying so hard to put on the image of terrorists. The accent, or rather lack of one. Why here? What’s important enough that someone would fake a terrorist… Me. Oh shit. I’m here. Gods I’m an idiot. I’m a total colossal idiot of incredible proportions. It wasn’t terrorists at all. It was fucking S.H.I.E.L.D. How many times do I have to tell those guys no! Do they need to know my identity that badly?

 

We sat there for hours. The ‘terrorists’ recorded a video on the camera. We couldn’t hear any of it from our position in the Hall, but it wasn’t hard to figure out what it probably was.

After the fourth hour, the leader got a phone call. When the guards all turned towards the leader when his pocket started blaring. I quickly dropped my hand to my pocket, slipping the ring on my finger before placing my hands back on my head before anyone noticed. Now I have options. I steadied my breathing and listened, my hearing becoming ultra-sensitive once more.

“ _Rumlow, he’s not going to show. He’s clearly waiting for something to happen. There’s special forces prepping for a take down in twenty minutes.”_ The voice on the other side of the line said and I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe we’ll get out of this after all.

“What do you want me to do?”

_“We need to do something to force the Dragon’s hand.”_

“I’ve got a plan,” Rumlow ended the call and turned to face us. He pointed his finger at Katelyn.

“Take her!” He growled to the guards. Five guards pushed their way through the crowd and grabbed Kate by the arms.

“Hey!” She yelled, kicking one of the guys in the balls.

“Leave her alone!” I yelled. Another guard moved up behind me, and smashed me over the head with the butt of his gun. I fell to the floor, but landed in a ready position, several nasty construct ideas at the forefront of my mind. Then I saw Katelyn’s face. She was shaking her head ever so slightly. My secret identity. She was trying to protect my secret identity. If I powered up now, S.H.I.E.L.D gets everything they want. Fuck.

The guards dragged her down the stairs and out of the hall, with Rumlow in tow, shutting the doors behind them. Mr Cook helped me to my feet and nodded to me.

 

Then I heard the shot, and my brain completely forgot about secret identities.

 

Morphing into my suit, I smashed straight through the doors at the front of the hall, and everything seemed to slow down. Kate was on the ground in the middle of the quad in front of a camera, entry wound beneath her stomach, Rumlow standing over her with a smoking gun. Then the ring did something I had never seen it do before, it changed colour. From its normal white glow to a violet one. I launched myself at Rumlow and sent him flying into the camera, totally demolishing it. I knelt down and looked at Kate, the ring telling me what was wrong, but she was alive.

_"The bullet had passed through Miss Katelyn's left kidney puncturing her intestine and has lodged in the L3 vertebrae of her spinal cord boss. Her heart rate is extremely low. There is serious internal bleeding, and the bullet must be removed immediately if paralysis is to be avoided."_

Then the glow changed from violet to blood red. I took one look up, and ropes materialised from thin air wrapping around the remaining undercover agents like nooses and lifting them off the ground. The white light of the constructs was tinted with red. Sam then ran out of the hall, followed by the rest of the students who had been held hostage. He ran down towards me stopping next to me as I sat kneeling in front of her.

"You need to get her to a hospital quickly! Josh. Josh! Snap out of it! She needs you!" Sam told me.

The ropes vanished, and the 'terrorists' fell to the ground unconscious from air loss. The light shifted back to violet, and after materialising a spinal board behind her back, I rose up with Kate in tow and flew straight to the closest hospital.

"Doctor! Please help!"

The Doctors ran over with a gurney which I placed her down on.

"What happened to her?" the doctor with the Gurney said. The ring repeated what is said to me and the doctor seemed to understand.

_"Boss S.H.I.E.L.D trucks are on route to your location. ETA 2 minutes."_

"Please save her,” I told the doctor.

"We'll do everything we can, I swear to God, but it sounds like you need to go. Don't worry we won't let anyone near her." the doctor said.

With one last glance at my crashing girlfriend, I speeded out the front door and back to the school, blasting past the trucks on the way.

 

The other 70 or something kids who saw me didn't tell the S.W.A.T teams that rushed in not ten seconds after I got back what they had seen. All they said was that the Dragon saved the day before flying away with the wounded hostage. It was another hour before I was able to get away and head to the hospital to see Katelyn. By the time I got there she was in the middle of surgery and S.H.I.E.L.D was all over the place, but the doctors had been true to their word, and no agent had been let past the surgery doors. When I walked in however, they took one look at me and had me in cuffs, dragging me out of the hospital while the other staff and patients watched in horror. I was thrown in the back of a van and brought to God knows where and placed in a very fancy cell. What they didn't know was I left the ring with Sam so S.H.I.E.L.D couldn't get their hands on it while Maisie went to the hospital after the goons had left to watch over Kate. I waited for what felt like an eternity. Then I heard a voice.

"Mr O'Neill. You've led us on quite a merry chase haven't you."

He was a tall black man with an eye patch covering his right eye.

"We've had our eyes on you ever since you appeared, Dragon, and I must say I'm impressed, you gave us the slip better than most. Eventually, though you made a mistake. You let a street camera catch you flying into a Boarding School window and not come out. We knew you wouldn't come easily, so we organised this hostage situation to get you to come quietly. If it makes you feel better the only Meta-Human who has given me more sleepless nights than you is Superman."

I didn't say anything. Although I had to admit, being put on the same level as Superman was kind of nice.

"Not too talkative ha. Ok. I'm sorry for that little show back there, but we needed to talk to you and couldn't get you to any other way. Every time one of my agents approached you kicked their asses. You even rejected Agent Coulson."

"Can we get this over with, please. The only person left on this fucking planet I care about it in surgery because of you! So say what you have to say and let me go before I decide I couldn't be bothered listening to you anymore and kill you instead Mr Eye-Patch." Sure, I was pissed, but half of what I said was actually me misleading him. Admittedly I don’t think I was very good at it.

"The name is Fury. Director Fury, young man and watch your tone when you're talking to me. And have fun breaking out of this cell, it was designed to detain Superman. If it can hold him, it can sure as hell hold you."

"Do you have any idea about what I can actually do?"

"No, and that’s what has me concerned. S.H.I.E.L.D is an organisation dedicated to protecting the planet against alien and extranormal threats. We don't just deal with small-scale crime, Dragon. We protect the world from people like you, like Superman, and all the others dangerous Metahumans out there who mean to cause us harm. There is a bigger picture out there, one that you can't see. But you are trying to do what's right, and that takes guts, so I am going to make you an offer. You see there an idea I have been working on. The idea is to bring together a group of remarkable people to be the planet's last line of defence against large-scale threats. Despite your age, I am offering you a chance. Work with me and help protect the world."

Despite the fact that I have been reading comics since I was 14 and understood everything that he was saying, I mentioned Kate and what happened to her, what he did to her. He didn't even apologise for shooting her. I knew right there even without the ring’s warning about 'Director Nick Fury' that he couldn't be trusted. All he saw was a tool to use, and I wasn't having any of it.

"Go fuck yourself, Nick."

 

* * *

 

 

Fury walked away and out of the detention centre. As soon as the door closed, he walked up to the viewing room where Coulson was waiting for him.

"He called you by name sir," Coulson said.

"I know. That's got me more worried than anything else."

"What do we do with him?"

"He tried to lead me off a little bit with his outbursts. Would have fooled most people. He knows what he's doing."

"What about his threat, do you think he can get out?"

"I don't know Coulson, there are just too many unknowns with this one. I think for now the best thing we can do is let him go."

"Let him go?"

"He's done nothing wrong. If anything, it's us that have wronged him and with what Rumlow did to that girl, can you blame him for not trusting us. No, we let him go and follow him from a distance. Keep digging up everything you can on him, and take a look at the girl as well, he seems to have a strong connection to her according to the spy cams we placed in the school. For now, we wait and see what Josh O'Neill does next."

 

They had a car drop me off at the hospital.

"We apologise for the misunderstanding, Mr O'Neill. S.H.I.E.L.D will compensate you for your troubles." Agent Coulson said before driving away.

"Gee thanks."

I walked back into the hospital and up to the front desk.

"Hi my names Josh O'Neill, I'm here to see Katelyn Sheppard."

"Of course right this way young sir." the nurse at the desk said before leading me down a corridor to an elevator. We got off at floor five, and the lady showed me to a room. Inside Kate's grandad, Steve and Maisie were sitting on a couch next to the bed where Kate was sleeping. She looked deathly pale and had an I.V. line in her arm. She was hooked up to a scanner that was monitoring her heart beat.

"Josh," Maisie said as I walked in and moved over to Kate and took her hand.

"What happened?"

"I was taken in by S.H.I.E.L.D. How is she?"

"It doesn't look good. The bullet shredded her left kidney and punctured her intestines. They were able to repair the damage to her intestines, but her kidney was too damaged and had to be removed."

"What about her spine?"

"The bullet lodged in her L3 vertebrae. It pierced the bone casing and severely damaged her spinal cord. It's still partially connected but…" Maisie started crying and leant against me for support, "Josh. They said she may never walk again."

I stayed silent and let Maisie cry into my shoulder. All I could think about was Kate. She would be devastated when she woke up. And it would be all my fault. I couldn't stop my family from being killed. But I could save the girl I loved, and I didn't. What does that make me? I had failed again.

 

* * *

 

It was five days before she woke up. It was one of the most painful moments I had ever seen in my life. The look on her face when she realised she couldn't feel her legs. As I expected S.H.I.E.L.D's idea of compensation was dumping money on the problem, i.e. 5 million dollars mysteriously appearing in my bank account. So, I put the money to good use to get Kate the very best doctors for her rehabilitation. Maisie, Sam, Kate's grandad and I all helped her through her recovery phase.

The new year came around, and we were all set to return to school for our final year, Kate refused to be left behind though. She said she was ready to go back and I believed her. She had put so much effort into her recovery and adjusting to her new position as a paraplegic. We moved through Year 12 without any incidents. We aced our examinations, and Kate won the school Computer Science award. The Dragon had made no appearances since what people were calling the 'Brisbane School Siege.' Most assumed he was dead. In reality, I just didn't care anymore. I started using the ring for personal things rather than what I was originally instructed to use it for, but I didn't care.

Kate, Maisie and I were all accepted into Columbia University in New York City, so after the year had ended we decided to pack our bags, and I used the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D money to purchase an apartment in the city close to the campus. It was a nice large rooftop penthouse apartment overlooking the river (hey if S.H.I.E.L.D were going to give me five million dollars I was sure as hell going to use it). It was a five bedroom three bathroom with two large lounge rooms, easy disabled access and a nice balcony with an awesome view of the sunset over the Hudson.

We met Batman for the first time a month later.

 


	3. I have a Dark Knight Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> S.H.I.E.L.D. takes a dark turn in this story and that is crucial to the plot.

 

> _"A hero can be anyone -- even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hasn’t ended."_
> 
>  – Bruce Wayne (Batman)

# I have a Dark Knight Confrontation

 

 

We were in Gotham City searching up a lead on what happened to Katelyn's parents. She had discovered an email between one Lieutenant - now Commissioner - Gordon and Detective Harvey Bullock that stated that Gordon believed that the bodies of John and Taylor Sheppard had been moved to the site they were found in. Gordon had found evidence that the two had been seen leaving a Warehouse two blocks further down the road no more than five minutes before hand.

So here I was, dressed in black, scouting out this warehouse, ring on my finger, while Kate talked to me over the coms from the hotel room. I phased through a locked door and moved down the empty lightless corridor. I rounded a corner and saw two guys wearing white face paint with red smiles painted over them. Before they even knew I was there two white construct hands materialised and knocked them unconscious. I proceeded down the hall to a bolted door. I could hear what sounded like machinery behind it. So, what do I do? Naturally, I open the door and walk through. With the benefit of hindsight, not my smartest move. Especially considering the door was connected to an alarm.

"Shit." Is the only word that can leave my mouth before I'm finding myself face to face with more clown-faced wackos. I knock two down and jump over the railing, landing on the floor of what looks like some sort of factory. I can see chemicals all over the place, they must be making some sort of drug. Then I see him. Everybody knows the infamous face of the Joker. Standing next to him was a man in a scarecrow mask. Seriously what is it with this city and bad Halloween costumes?

The Joker turns and looks at me, raising his eyebrow as he does so.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

I morph my black tracksuit into my suit, the white grooves blazing to life as I do so.

"Remember now?" I ask him before superspeeding forward grabbing the Joker by the neck and slamming him into a wall, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, why don't I let my friend show you." As the green haired nutcase said that the guy in the scarecrow mask detonated some kind of gas bomb at my feet causing me to drop the Joker and stagger back coughing.

"Concentrated dose of my fear gas will have him hallucinating for hours." Scarecrow dude said.

"Oh, excellent! I would love to see what demons the Dragon has in his closet."

I stood up and shook my head as if to clear it.

"Fear gas ha. I must admit, inventive. You see the only problem with your plan there is that fear isn’t going to do jack shit to me."

My eyes blazed yellow, and a white train construct formed, slamming the two criminals into the wall.

"Warning for the future. Don't attack me with an emotion-based weapon because it won't work well for you."

_"Dragon this is Oracle you've shifted into the yellow band of the spectrum according to my readings. Keep your head on a swivel you know the side-effects of yellow exposure."_

"So, Mr Joker I have a question I need to be answered then I'll let Batman deal with you, who Oracle says is entering the building as we speak. Batgirl and Nightwing aren't far behind him either. How long have you been working out of this warehouse?"

"Oh, only recently. You see this place was perfect. It has a nice lovely skylight, the wide open floor space. It was perfect. I told the estate agent as much. Of course, the only downside is that it was being used by 'them' before we got here."

" 'them?' whose 'them?'"

"Why the Eagles of course. Always have to watch out for the Eagles you know."

"Yeh, I do."

Then I heard the sound of a grapple gun.

_'Boss potential hostile's approaching.'_

"Oh, is that 'Oracle' tell her I said hi."

"Oh, Shut up."

 

Batman landed on the floor behind me. I made a Han Solo carbonite box construct and froze Joker in it before letting it fall down to the ground. I turned around and looked at the infamous Caped Crusader as his two companions landed behind him.

"Batman."

"Dragon. Thought you were dead."

"Thought you didn't exist."

The Dark Knight said nothing, simply continued to stare at me.

"Well, this is awkward," Batgirl exclaimed from behind Batman before walking past him to inspect the Joker in his carbonite suitcase.

"What you do to him?" She asked looking up.

"Ever seen the movie Empire Strikes Back?" I told her, never taking my eyes off of Batman.

"No way."

"What are you doing here? Why come back now?" Batman said

"I'm not. Just helping out a friend."

"By beating my nemesis to a pulp and walking unaffected through the Scarecrows fear gas?"

"That’s right. Now if you'll excuse me I have a new lead to follow up." I began floating up towards the roof now.

"Just so you know that construct will dissipate in a few minutes. I recommend putting him in your private prison or something because I don't think Arkham's doing anything for him."

"Joker said' watch out for the eagles' that mean anything to you?"

"It means too much. I'll give you a clue. It’s a shield." and with that, I phased through the roof and flew back to the hotel.

 

* * *

 

 

"What do you think he meant. It’s a shield." Barbara said as the trio walked into the Bat Cave.

"I have a suspicion. It was never confirmed but considering what he said it makes perfect sense."

"What does?" Dick Grayson, also known as Nightwing, asked as the trio walked up to the Bat Computer. Bruce removed his cowl and sat down in the chair bringing up images of something called the 'Brisbane School Siege.'

"The last time the Dragon was ever seen? What does that have to do with anything." Dick said.

"I was always interested in this terrorist attack. I always wondered how this many persons operating as terrorists could go undetected in a place like Australia. It's a lot harder to get illegal arms and materials there than here, which begs the question of how these 24 people got a hold of the level of technology they demonstrated at the place. The other interesting thing was what happened after. ISIS never commented about it despite the fact that the individuals responsible said very plainly that they worked for Islamic State. I suspected someone else was behind it other than IS and that whoever did it used the attack as a cover, but now I know for sure."

"How could you possibly get confirmation of something like that from two completely unrelated things like eagles and shields." Barbara Gordon, also known as Batgirl said confused.

"Because they are linked. S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't an object. It's an acronym. Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. A top secret counter-terrorism agency whose symbol just so happens to be an Eagle."

"Wow. The world's greatest detective strikes again," Dick remarked, "but how have we not heard of them before?"

"You have; you just don't know it. The Brainiac Invasion two years ago. Who do you think cleaned that up? The whole Tony Stark Iron Man fiasco, that was them too. Their work stretches back to World War 2. If you know what to look for you can catch glimpses of them. The Cuban Missile Crisis, The Bay of Pigs Invasion, the fall of the Soviet Union, the battle of Harlem, the Particle Accelerator Explosion. They were there."

"But what does the Dragon have to do with them and why was he in the warehouse anyway."

"I don't think he was there for the Joker, he just happened to be there at the same time Dragon was."

"What makes you say that?"

"Think about it, what did he say when I asked him why come back now."

"He didn't. He said he was doing it for a friend," Barbara exclaimed, re-joining the conversation, "if he was at the warehouse, but not for the Joker, he must have had an ulterior motive, and he seemed angry when the Joker mentioned S.H.I.E.L.D. He must have been investigating something to do with the warehouse and S.H.I.E.L.D must have been the answer to his mystery. Search for any significant events that occurred in or near that warehouse."

"One step ahead of you. Only one, murder. John and Taylor Sheppard in 2008." Bruce said displaying it on the screen.

Bruce started typing on the keyboard in front of him, and a few seconds later a bunch of new images and police reports appeared on the screen.

"What did you do?" Dick questioned.

"I cross-referenced the name Sheppard with the Dragon. It seems our murder victims had a daughter, Katelyn, who moved to Australia after her parent’s death. She was caught up in the Siege, she was the hostage that was shot on live TV a few seconds before the Dragon showed up. According to this after defeating the 'terrorists', the Dragon brought the girl to a nearby medical facility. She survived but was left paralysed."

"That's hard. I can relate."

"Despite her injury, she went on to become an ace student at the school. She is now a student at Columbia University studying computer sciences and cyber security."

"Wow good on her," Dick commented

"Hm…" Barbara said looking at the screen

"What. What's wrong."

"Think about it. This girl’s parents were killed two blocks away from what we now know was a former S.H.I.E.L.D. base. Then 9 years later, she's shot and paralysed by a group of agents working for S.H.I.E.L.D. masquerading as terrorists. The same day the Dragon goes missing and is presumed dead. What were Miss Sheppard's personal connections?" Barbara explained.

Bruce began typing at the keyboard again only for an error message to appear on the screen. A large circle with the symbol of an eagle inside it, beneath the symbol, was the word 'CLASSIFIED'.

"Shit!"

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Barbara and Dick said together.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.," Bruce confirmed.

 

"What do we do now?"

Barbara pulled out her phone and went on Facebook.

"Barbara is now really the time to be on Facebook?" Dick asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep. Because I just figured out who the Dragon is under the glasses," Bruce took the phone from her and looked at the page displayed on the screen. It was a profile picture of Miss Sheppard in a wheelchair and another black-haired brown eyed individual kissing her on her cheek, in the background was the Statue of Liberty.

 

* * *

 

 

"Director Fury."

"Agent Coulson," Fury was sitting behind his desk on the helicarrier when Coulson walked in, "A security team just red flagged this." Coulson handed Fury a tablet with information on it.

"We can't pinpoint an exact location, there seems to be something scrambling our system, but we know that whoever is digging into Josh O'Neill and Katelyn Sheppard's files are somewhere in Gotham City. I've just alerted our Agents already in the city to be on the lookout.

"Take your team and go. Contain this before it gets any further out of hand."

**  
**


	4. I get recruited (more or less) into Vigilantism

 

> “You only have your thoughts and dreams ahead of you. You are someone. You mean something.”
> 
>  – Bruce Wayne (Batman)

# I get recruited (more or less) into Vigilantism

 

"I assume you heard what Joker said," I said as I landed on the balcony of our hotel room and took off the ring.

"Yeh, I did. So, you think S.H.I.E.L.D. had something to do with deaths of my parents?" Katelyn or Oracle asked me as she rolled out of the bathroom of our wheel-chair friendly hotel room. Maisie walked out behind her.

"He could be lying, but I don't see why he would, and he probably thought he was clever talking about eagles. Probably has no idea that we knew exactly what he was talking about." Maisie deducted. She was studying to be a reporter, even going so far as to get an internship at CNN New York.

"So, what does it all mean do you suppose?" I asked her.

"I don't know, but it can't be simple. What I do know however is that you just took down the bloody Joker without breaking a sweat."

"It was a team effort," I said looking down at Kate who blushed.

"Oh, get a room," Maisie said, and we all started laughing.

"And what about the Batman showing up. That had to be cool." Maisie said, jumping up and down, she was fixated on trying to figure out who the Caped Crusader really was.

"Oh Yeah, he's like really mysterious. He had this strange aura like he was studying you and had already figured out five different ways to kill you."

"That's so cool. Ok, I need you to tell me everything about Batman and the others."

I rolled my eyes and sat down on the couch as Maisie went into full reporter mode. This was going to be a long night.

 

The next day Kate and I were down at the Gotham City foreshore overlooking the bay. Despite my constant offering, Katelyn didn't like it when somebody else pushed her, and she often didn't bother using the extra features installed in her chair such as the motor (She did like the Wi-Fi and computer case installed in the armrest, though). She says she likes building her upper body strength up, but I think there's something else she isn't telling me. It's been almost 4 years since the incident, and she had adjusted really well, but she was still working out the kinks. We were simply strolling down the pathway by the water watching the sunset, and it was really nice. Just the two of us. We were planning on going to dinner afterwards, so I was wearing a nice Armani suit I had picked up in New York while Kate was wearing a gorgeous strapless red gown that accentuated her natural curves. She was beautiful. Of course, something just had to happen, didn't it? The factory across the road detonated, the rear wall exploded sending pieces of scrap everywhere. My superspeed kicked in, and everything froze. That was when I noticed that just ahead of the explosion, suspended, slowly moving away from the fire, was a figure in black, wearing the unmistakable cape and cowl of the Batman. He was passing eye level when I moved. I grabbed Katelyn and ran a kilometre away and sat her down on a park bench. I then flashed back and grabbed the chair and with a quick glance at Batman ran back to Kate. All in the period of three seconds. I sat down next to Kate and the world unfroze.

"Look Out!" she screamed. Then realised nothing happened. I could hear the explosion finish using super hearing.

"Oh. Thanks, I guess." She laughed and put her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her, and we sat there watching the sunset, all thoughts of Batmen and Clowns fading from our thoughts.

 

* * *

 

"Urrh!!!!" Bruce yelled as he sat down in a chair in Wayne Manor. After the explosion, Bruce had returned to the Batcave and changed into normal clothes he then went up to the manor where he was currently residing.

Barbara walked in and sat down across from him.

"How did it go?" She asked him.

"Another trap. I don’t know how these guys are luring us out so easily. We don't even know who they are. I called both you and Dick because everywhere I go I end up getting ambushed by these guys. Even with your help I still don't know who they are or what they want. The only thing we have to go on is that their goons are very well trained.

"What are we going to do about it?"

"I don't know. I just don't know. For now, though I think we should suspend all activity as our alter egos. Until we know more any of us could be targeted at any time."

"Good call."

Bruce was silent for a while again. It was a good few minutes before he spoke up again.

"I saw him again today."

"Who?"

"The Dragon."

"What! He was at site you were ambushed at?"

"No, he was in civilian mode, he and his girlfriend, the one in the wheelchair. They were down at the foreshore. Wrong Place, Wrong time."

"How did you know it was him?"

"It was the same kid that we saw in the photo. And the during the explosion the suit cam caught him moving at superspeed, carrying the girl away, then coming back for her chair before disappearing." Bruce said dismissing Barbara's question.

"We can't do anything until whoever's targeting us is caught right. Which means we can't help people, we can't do our jobs."

"Yes, I know this."

"But what if we had a different perspective?"

"What are you getting at?"

"These guys know what we're going to do and where we're going to do it before we even know. They are anticipating our every move before we make it. What would you need to do to be able to do that?"

"You would need someone… who could think like us."

"Exactly. So, to take them down, we need to not be ourselves."

"How do you suppose we do that?"

"We don't," Barbara pulled her phone out and showed him a picture. Josh O'Neill's Facebook profile picture. "We get him to do it for us."

 

* * *

 

Josh was sitting on the couch in the hotel room with Kate sitting next to him. They had just finished explaining to Maisie what had happened down at the foreshore.

"It's so annoying that whenever something weird happens to you, I can't write about it. Think of the stories. How many front page stories do you think you've told me over the years?"

"Quite a few I'd guess."

I sighed and turned the television to CNN. I figured listening to the latest stupid thing that someone had done would distract me from the thoughts that were revolving through my head. What does S.H.I.E.L.D. have to do with Katelyn's parent's death? Were they responsible for their death? Or did someone want them dead because they were affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D. and if so what were they doing for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place? These questions had been bouncing around in my brain for the last day, and I was no closer to a legitimate answer.

 _"Hey. I know what you're thinking. Don't worry we'll figure it out. I promise."_ Even a year after the Particle Accelerator Explosion had given Kate the ability to read people's thoughts, it was still a bit creepy when she started talking to you in your head. It was pretty cool, though.

_'Boss three external threats detected. Pattern Analysis and coordination suggest that they are members of the 'Bat' Vigilante group.'_

Katelyn sat up as the Batman landed on the balcony and walked into the hotel room.

"Sure, come on in. Your welcome anytime." I said to the figure in the black cape. I used X-Ray vision to see Nightwing and Batgirl hanging from the floor above.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be," I asked, attempting to adopt some semblance of shock. Maisie was full on gawking at the guy, and Katelyn was staring at him in concentration. She was trying to get in his head.

"You know full well who I am. And whichever one of you who is trying to get in my head, Stop. I was trained by the League of Assassins in mind protection techniques. I doubt you will get anywhere." The blush that crept across Kate's face was barely noticeable, but it was there.

_"He's good but he just unknowingly gave me exactly what I needed."_

_"Good work."_

"So, Mr Bat dude what are you doing here. I don’t think I have done anything to warrant hotel invasion, have I?" I said trying to buy time to figure a way out of this.

"You know why I'm here. I can't believe I'm saying this..."

 _"Neither can I," "Shut Up!"_ my enhanced hearing picked up the two voices. He must have a com-link in his cowl.

"But I am," Batman continued, "I need help taking down a very dangerous man, and my usual methods aren’t working. I need the Dragon’s help."

"The Dragon? Isn't he that guy from Australia who went missing years ago?" I tried to act natural. I don’t think it worked.

Batman sighed. "Well I tried the easy way," then he threw a Batarang at Kate. That’s a big no-no in my book. Everything slowed down, I got up off the couch jumping over Kate's head grabbed the Batarang and ploughed straight into Batman, throwing him across the room and into a wall. White clamps materialised and locked onto his arms and legs preventing him from moving. Nightwing and Batgirl dropped to the balcony and began to move in, but were stopped when they ran into a spider web. The Lord of the Rings offers lots of inspiration.

"What the fuck was that!"

"I knew you'd catch it." He said smiling.

"Well played. How'd you figure it out?"

"We have a mutual acquaintance."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. I have to admit you figured it out sooner than I thought you would. I should have guessed you'd have run into the suits before."

"Bruce Wayne!" Katelyn blurted out. I turned around to see her wide-eyed and smiling. I turned back to the captive vigilante and pulled off his cowl.

"Bruce Wayne."

"Bruce Wayne!" Maisie said before grabbing the arm of the couch for support.

"Nicely done kid," Bruce said, looking over my shoulder. The ring was picking up on the waves of pride that were emanating from her.

I let the clamps and webs melt away and took a step back.

"So, Bruce Wayne is the Batman. That actually makes a lot of sense. I can't believe I didn't figure it out before." Maisie said.

"It does?" Kate said her eyebrows scrunching together. She always does that when she's thinking hard about something.

Kate shifted into her chair, which next to the couch within easy reach. She then wheeled over and stopped in front of Bruce

"Well think about it," Maisie said, "All the gadgets and cars and planes and stuff, you'd have to have a lot of money or a friend with deep pockets. Then motive. What makes a person prowl around their city at night in a bat costume beating up criminals? Vengeance. I don't mean to be rude but that is why you're doing this isn't it. Vengeance for your parents?"

Bruce visually stiffened as she was talking,

"That was how it started, but the mission has evolved since I started out ten years ago. Now it's about making this city a better place."

"Wait, so that means… You’re Dick Grayson!" Maisie asked the two other vigilantes.

"How did you…" Dick began before Maisie cut him off.

"Easy. Dick Grayson is Bruce Wayne's ward. Bruce Wayne is Batman. Therefore, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, formerly Robin. I still don’t know who you are, though." Maisie exclaimed, pointing at Nightwing then at Batgirl, who shrugged and rolled her eyes at Dick.

"Barbara Gordon."

"Commissioner Gordon's daughter. That makes so much sense."

"So, what do you need from me?" I asked Bruce, forestalling Maisie's next batch of questions.

"There is someone in Gotham City targeting vigilantes for murder. Every move we make is being anticipated before we even make it. While this person is out there, we can't take down criminals. We can't do our job. We are at a dead end. We need someone who thinks differently than us and is willing to go into a firefight if we are going to take him out. Barbara suggested we contact you and ask for your help and here we are." Bruce explained to the three.

Naturally, the first thing Katelyn said after that was, "Barbara suggested it?" It was a statement delivered with quite a bit of venom.

"I didn't mean it like that. Josh, you have a different perspective and skill set than we do. That gives us a massive advantage. And maybe there's something we can offer you in return." Barbara said apologetically.

"Like what?"

"Help with your investigation into S.H.I.E.L.D," Dick told me.

_"I know you said you didn't want to do this anymore but, they need our help, Josh."_

_"I know Kate. It's just if I do this we will be back on S.H.I.E.L.D's radar again."_

_"We'll deal with that when it comes to it."_

"Ok, We're in."

_'Boss, security camera's just caught Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D entering the building. He is headed towards this floor. Camera's also detected five S.H.I.E.L.D agents surrounding the premises.'_

"What was that?" Dick said instantly on alert.

"No time for that now," I said throwing Bruce his cowl, which he promptly placed back on his head, "Ok everybody holds still."

"Shouldn't we just leave?" Barbara said moving towards the window.

"No. The voice said the place is surrounded. We can't be seen having anything to do with them," Bruce told her before turning back to me, "I hope you got a plan kid."

"I do. Katelyn." All eyes turned to my girlfriend who was still in the middle of the room.

"I don't think I can do it. I'm not strong enough yet."

"You are I know it. I believe in you Kate and so does everyone here."

There was a knock on the door, and everyone froze. Kate lifted her left hand, closed her eyes and placed two fingers on her temple. The door opened, and there was Phil Coulson. He took a look around the room before closing the door and moving on.

"What just happened?" Barbara asked dumbfounded.

"I am going to take a wild guess and say that she used her telepathy to hide us from his gaze. Am I close?" Bruce said with a slight smile.

"Yeah." Kate sighed out of breath.

"In that case well done Miss Sheppard."

Dick and Barbara just stared at him, jaw dropped.

"Ok, when do you want to do this?"

 

* * *

 

"So what's the plan?" I asked Batman from where we were sitting on top of a sea container at the Gotham City Docks. It was just before midnight, and we were getting ready to make our move.

"Nightwing and Batgirl are on the south-side ready to spring into action. The main goal is making sure this shipment of M-14's does not make it into the city. Of course, the problem is whoever it is that’s stalking us knows full well that we can't let that happen. So they're bound to be here waiting for us. Which is why you're going in, disguised as me."

"So that’s why I'm wearing a Bat-suit construct. You do realise that keeping this suit black is taking a lot out of me and quick question do you put the word bat in front of everything."

"Yes."

"Ok. Well, my x-ray vision is picking up pressure plates under the ground next to some sort of explosives, but I don't think that they are linked. Someone must be watching. That way the plates don't blow if a normal person steps on them, but if you guys step on them… Boom."

"Thanks for that."

"No problem."

I tapped the com in my ear turning it on, "Oracle you there?"

"Ready and raring. I have full control of the security cameras in the area." Katelyn or 'Oracle' said through my ear.

A group of thugs dressed in black walked off a cargo ship with a large container and placed it down on the ground. A few seconds later a truck and a black limo pulled up.

"Ok now. Go." Batman said, a bit forcefully. I jumped off the container and landed on the ground between the containers. I used my x-ray vision to see where all the guards and pressure plates were, using my accelerated perception and tiny amounts of superspeed to appear to be using Batman's awesome martial arts skills to take out the guards. I approached the centre of the port and used construct Batarangs to take out the majority of the guys before deliberately jumping on one of the pressure plates. And the whole place was engulfed in fire. Fortunately, I erected a construct shield as the bomb detonated, which took the brunt of the blast. Unfortunately, I lost concentration, and my suit reverted to normal, and I was thrown across the port and into a container. I at least had the coherence to dim the lights on my suit. My hearing picked up boot steps moving towards me, despite my whole body screaming at me to move, I remained still. This was all part of the plan.

 _'Power levels at 15% boss.' "Josh, can you hear me? Josh!"_ That was not a part of the plan.

The guards approached my form and moved the piece of debris that was obscuring my body from their view. They weren’t prepared for what happened next. White ropes materialised out of thin air and wrapped up the 5 individuals closest to me. The other five was taken out by the Bats. I got up from where I landed and turned the lights back on.

"That hurt!" I told Batman as he approached me.

"You'll get over it," He quipped before walking up to one of the tied up men. He punched one in the face before shoving him to the ground.

"Who do you work for? Why are you targeting us? I want answers?"

"Don't bother. There not going to talk." I told him, my rage building.

"Why’s that?" Batman asked turning back towards me, a questioning look on his face.

"Check his mouth. I'd bet your entire fortune there's a cyanide capsule embedded in his cheekbone." The anger on my face was clearly visible now. Kate was in my ear telling me to calm down, to stay out of the red zone.

Bruce opened the man's mouth and found what he was looking for embedded right where I said it would be.

"Rip open his shirt," I said.

"Why would I…"

"Do it!" My eyes shifted colour from emerald green to burning red, and the Batman ripped open the hostage’s crappy shirt.

Beneath it was a Kevlar mission suit, with an eagle logo over the heart.

Then a search light flooded the area, illuminating the four of us.

"This is the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. Surrender now Meta-humans, and you will not be harmed." was the voice that emitted from the loud speaker on the Quinjet that was hovering over us.

"Dragon no!" Batman seemed to guess what I was going to do, but he wasn't going to stop me. I was pissed, and you know when a hero who gets his powers from his emotions is pissed, it's going to get messy. I blasted off the ground and ploughed straight through the Quinjets left engine sending it crashing into the bay.

'Power levels at 5%.' _"Josh honey don't do this, not now. You don't have the energy, and you're not thinking straight, the red light is clouding your mind. You aren't in control, grab the Bats and get out of there. Please."_

Kate's pleading got through to my rage-fuelled brain and made me assess my situation. I spotted Phil Coulson in the water floating next to the wreck of the jet.

"Agent Coulson. Tell Nick Fury I'll be seeing him real soon." I yelled down at him before creating three bubbles around the Bats and lifted them up flying away.

Once we were over the city, I said to Bruce, "Give me directions to somewhere I don't have much juice left, and there's no way I can make it back to our hotel."

"Turn left and head straight towards the mainland. On the other side of the Gotham River is a large manor that overlooks the city, head there. It's a lot closer than your hotel room." I did as he said and managed to land outside the massive house as my power hit zero. As soon as I touched down on the ground, the 'Bat-Bubbles' popped and my uniform disintegrated leaving me standing in the middle of the Wayne Manor courtyard in nothing but my puppy dog boxer shorts. At least it was summer?

"What?"

"Seriously?"

"Hot."

 

I'll let you guess who said what.

 

It had taken me a good minute before I mustered the courage to speak up.

"Can I get a shirt?"

 

* * *

 

"Ok. Start explaining. Now" That was Bruce. We were sitting around a large meeting table in the Batcave. (It's massive!! I mean this place is so cool!) Bruce, Dick and Barbara were sitting across from me, and Kate and Maisie had their faces on a monitor screen on the wall next to us.

"Where do you want me to start?" I asked.

"You can start by what that voice we keep hearing is and how your powers 'ran out of juice' because I am starting to doubt whether you’re a, what did S.H.I.E.L.D call you, a metahuman at all."

"You would be right at guessing that. I'm not a Meta-human, I'm not an alien either. I'm as human as you are. When I was 17 I was plucked out of school by a white energy ball, it took me out into the woods, where I discovered a wreckage. Turns out it was an alien spaceship, and the guy inside it looked like an older version of me. He said 'that the ring chose me' and that it was my responsibility to carry on his mission. He gave me this and died."

I put my hand in my pocket, pulled the golden ring out and placed it on the table before sliding it across to Bruce.

 _"We still don't really know how it allows Josh to do what he can do. All we really know is that the ring taps into the wearer's emotions and uses them as a type of focus to create anything you can imagine in your mind. The problem is the mysterious energy source that the ring taps into to do all these things runs out and it can't recharge while it's being worn. However, with 2hrs of non-usage, it will be back to 100% again."_ Kate said from the other side of the screen.

"For about nine months we worked together to fight crime in my city, and it was good, crime rates plummeted, drug trafficking was virtually non-existent. Then I made a mistake. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been tailing me, I knew that. The ring, which is the disembodied voice you keep hearing, has lots of information on them, the person who wore that thing before me had an even lower opinion of S.H.I.E.L.D than I do. I let them see me returning to my school. So, they staged a terrorist attack to draw me out. What they didn't count on was me being one of the hostages. Two hours later and no Dragon showed up, so they decided to kill one of the hostages to make me come out. They picked Kate. I thought they were bluffing. I was wrong. The bullet left her in the state she's in now, and I was taken hostage by S.H.I.E.L.D. I spent about an hour in their custody while they interrogated me. I didn't say anything. They even gave me the offer to join them. Eventually, they let me go. And I quit heroics, left it to the professionals. Spent my time on my studies and learning more about how the ring worked."

Bruce was fingering and looking over the small golden band in almost awe.

_"We discovered that the ring classifies emotion in a spectrum, with parallels to the spectrum of light. From what we've been able to surmise: red correlates to anger, we haven't witnessed any orange shift, yellow is fear, green is willpower, blue is optimism, indigo is compassion and violet is love. We discovered that colours on the most extreme side of the spectrum have more influence over the user, whereas colours closer to the centre like Will afford more control. Josh spends most of his time in the Green Zone, which I think is why the ring chose him in the first place."_

"Try it on," I told Bruce as he was rolling it in his palm. He slipped the ring on his finger, and it began to glow

_'User incompatible.'_

The ring sparked, electrocuting Bruce before jumping off his finger and hovering in the air.

 _'Scanning Dimensional sector for the host. Host found.'_ The ring floated back over to me and slipped back onto my finger.

"Same thing happened to Alex and Maisie when they tried to wear it. Katelyn tried too, especially after the accident, but it kept saying 'Error, Error.' We don't know why."

"Why would it say I was incompatible, though."

"We don't know that either. The only lead we have is that when it chose me the ring said, 'Josh O'Neill you have the ability to master the emotional spectrum,'" I told him, placing air quotes around the rings voice.

"I can take a look at it if you want. Wayne Enterprises has some of the best technological laboratories in the world." Bruce offered.

"I would love to. I really would, but my issue is what happens if someone steals it. This tiny thing is quite possibly the most dangerous weapon in the Universe. We can't let it fall into the wrong hands. I mean imagine what would happen if S.H.I.E.L.D. got their hands on this thing. I can't let that happen." I told him.

"I respect that. And I understand the sense of duty you have."

"If you don't mind me asking you mentioned early that the dying alien said to continue his mission. What was the mission?" Barbara asked me.

"To defend the weak, and use the power to help those who cannot help themselves," I told her.

"Well, that, of course, leads to the other big issue here. How did you know it was S.H.I.E.L.D?" Bruce asked me, folding his arms and placing them on the table.

"They pulled the same trick on me remember. A stage act. To pull you out into the open. The mistake they made both times is that they brought high-quality weapons to the party. A quick x-ray vision on the agents approaching me revealed the cyanide capsules in their cheekbones and bam, undercover S.H.I.E.L.D Agents exposed."

 

"Well, either way. S.H.I.E.L.D. now knows your affiliated with us and us with you. You said you would help us if we helped you find the truth about S.H.I.E.L.D, we were ready to help you before, but now you have our full support. Now it's personal."

"Great. Partners?" I said holding my hand out of the table.

"Partners." Bruce took my hand and gave it a shake. On the outside I was cool and collected, on the inside, I was screaming like a kid in a candy store.

"Awesome."

 

**  
**

 


	5. That time when I beat up Superman. Or did Superman beat up me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the origin story of the team up there were only two ways I could go. The DC route, or the MARVEL Route. I decided to go DC because it allowed me to bring the characters together faster and works better from a narrative point of view, especially with my darker version of S.H.I.E.L.D. So enjoy.

_Justice League Vol 1 (#1)_

  

> _"There was a time when the world didn't call them it's greatest superheroes. There was a time when the world didn't know what a superhero was. Little did we all know this was when we needed them the most, and if they hadn't come together when they did, I don't want to imagine what the world might look like today, if there was a world left at all."_
> 
> _– Katelyn O’Neill (Oracle)_

 

# That time when I beat up Superman. Or did Superman beat up me?

 

**Gotham City 6:45 pm. November 20 th, 2023**

 

"We have Batman in our sights Captain. It looks like he's running after someone." The young Gotham City cop reported to his senior officer.

"Man, Woman, What! Be more specific son."

"I can't tell, the face is covered."

"Is it one of them?"

"The way they're leaping twenty feet at a time? I'd say that’s a yes Captain."

"… Then bring them both down."

 

"Shit!" Bruce yelled as the GCPD helicopter flying above him opened fire, "Idiots."

Batman fired his grapple hook at the 'thing' he was chasing's leg, latching on to it and pulling it down onto the roof with the Caped Crusader. He released the hook and ran up to it, jumping on it and grabbing it by the neck.

"What were you doing at the docks. I want answers…" He got no further as the creature spewed fire from its mouth forcing the Batman to jump off his quarry to avoid his face being melted off. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere a giant train made of white light erupted, slamming into the thing and throwing the creature across the roof into an air conditioner before disappearing as if it was never there. Floating above the building was a figure in a black suit with various white grooves on it, supporting a white comet symbol across the chest.

"Batman."

"Dragon, turn out that light before they see us."

"Before who sees us?"

"This is Gotham P.D. Put your hands in the air,"

"Put my hands in the air? So, they can just shoot me?"

The Dragon erected a large glowing white American Flag in front of the two of them protecting the two heroes from the barrage of bullets that followed.

"Welcome to Gotham."

"They're wasting their bullets. This force field can stand up to… well, anything."

"I've just recently read up on your conflicts back in 2017 with your own cops, so I know you know the drill."

"Yeah. They don't like us very much."

"The world's afraid of us."

"You say that like it's a good thing?"

"It's necessary."

The Dragon was going to comment back but the 'unconscious thingy' that Batman had been chasing chose that moment to wake up and plough into his would-be attacker sending the Dragon flying off the side of the building. The thing then stood up and spewed fire straight at the helicopter, making it explode.

 

I jumped off the ground where I landed and into the air creating a giant bat construct to grab hold of the falling helicopter and place it none too gently on the ground. Of course, that allowed the creature to make an escape. Batman dived off the building and landed on the ground, jumping down through a sewer entry to give chase. I followed him down.

 

"What are you doing here anyway. You said you were done with heroics last time you helped me out." Batman said moving along the sewer pipe.

"Yeh, well something came up. Ring unmute."

'ALERT, ALERT. ALPHA LEVEL THREAT DETECTED. ALERT, ALERT. ALPHA LEVEL THREAT DETECTED. ALERT, ALERT. ALPHA LEVEL THREAT DETECTED. ALERT, ALERT…'

"Oh shut up! It started doing that about an hour ago. Then it was like it had a mind of its own, it formed the suit, and it flew me all the way from Central Park to here. Katelyn was not happy. I am going to be in…"

"Quiet!" Batman snapped.

I stopped talking. We looked around a corner in the pathway to see the creature doing something to the wall.

"What's it doing?"

"Fusing something to the wall."

The box it was holding made a high pitched ding.

"Did you hear that? If that’s a bomb, he just armed it!" I jumped out from behind the wall and flew towards it.

"Dragon wait!"

"For Darkseid!!" The creature screamed, and it blew up. I threw up a safe construct around Batman and me to protect us the blast, but it was a close thing. The smoke cleared, and I opened the door.

"Dark Side? What is that a Band?"

"Sounded like a death cry.

"It just combusted into the fire," I stated.

"But it did it on purpose."

"How could you know that."

"It was trying to take us with it," Bruce said before walking over to the box, which remained unscathed attached to the wall. "Whatever that thing came here to do, it did it. It planted this here."

"Any idea what it is?"

Batman pulled out a device (ten bucks to the person who can guess what it's shaped like) and began to scan it.

"It doesn't scan like a bomb. More like some kind of alien computer."

"Alien. Maybe this is all connected to Superman. They say he's an alien."

"He is. And he's Dangerous."

"You've met Superman?"

"No. But I've researched him. His power levels…"

"Are not going to be a problem for me. Come on Batman. We're going to Metropolis."

 

* * *

 

**Meanwhile in Los Angeles**

Tony Stark - Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist, Superhero - was stumped. Yesterday he had stopped some creature 'thing' from planting some sort of device at a football game. Luckily Stark had been in the crowd, and when J.A.R.V.I.S. alerted him to the thing smashing through security, he had donned the Iron Man suit and defeated the monster before it planted the device. Now the big green thing - which Stark guessed was some type of extra-terrestrial - and the box-like device it had tried to plant were in containment in his lab beneath his Malibu Mansion. He was currently trying to open the infernal cube.

"Shit!!"

He wasn't having much luck.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. mark this one a failure too."

"Yes, sir. You should know that I have completed the structural scan of the device."

"Finally. What are we looking at? Some kind of bomb?"

"I don't think so. It reads more like a computer. I believe I am deciphering the code."

"Interesting. What else you got?"

"The device is alien. There are elements I can't quantify. I am however detecting a signal being broadcast from it."

"So, it's talking to someone. Scan the globe for that frequency."

Stark moved over to a table in the centre of the room where a holographic globe had appeared floating above it.

"Picking up identical signals being broadcasted from Central City, Gotham City and Metropolis."

"Those are all locations with suspected super-human activity. Wait a second… the signal coming from Gotham's on the move. Heading towards… Metropolis. J.A.R.V.I.S prep the Mark 5. We're heading for the City of Tomorrow."

 

* * *

 

**Metropolis 7:30pm**

 

"Mommy look! It's one of them!" a little girl cried out from the balcony of her apartment home. The girl's mum ran outside onto the balcony, and sure enough, a giant white jet flew past the window before landing on an abandoned construction site across the road. The mother watched on as the jet disintegrated leaving two masked individuals standing in the lot.

"It's not Superman." The 6-year-old girl asked her mum, wide-eyed and excited.

"No, it's not sweetie. Come on we have to go meet your Auntie Daniele remember."

"No, we don't."

"Yes, we do. Come on, go pack your bag."

"Ok." with that the little girl ran to her room to get her things. There was no meeting with Auntie Daniele, not really. All the concerned mother knew was that there was three of 'them' in the city now. Which meant something was going to happen and she didn't want her daughter anywhere near it.

"Could you have gotten us here anymore stealthily."

"Hey it was either that or the Starship Enterprise, take your pick," I told the Lord of broodiness as we walked towards the centre of the site. Wait… is that even a word? Oh well.

"No, the fighter jet was fine."

"Thank you. How do you know where Superman is anyway?"

"I've been tracking his flight path."

"On what, your own satellite?"

Bruce simply smirked at me and took the box out from beneath his cape.

"I was kidding you have your own satellite! Of course, you have your own satellite." I just shook my head. This guy never ceased to surprise me. Not to mention how many pockets does that suit have!

"Wait a minute, it's splitting in two."

"What?"

"There's two of them now."

A massive crash caused us to both to spin around and gaze up to see a similar creature get thrown over our heads, plummeting towards an apartment building 10 meters away from us. I was about to make a move to catch it before Batman grabbed my arm.

"Wait."

Sure enough, as soon as he said that a sonic boom could be heard and something caused the monster to be thrown off course, landing on the other side of the construction site. I looked up to see a blonde-haired girl who had to be a lot younger than me, floating in the air, cape billowing behind her, S symbol displayed proudly on her chest.

"Who are you supposed to be?" She called out.

Then I felt something super speed up to me and before it could stop I punched it in the face, sending it flying backwards into a crane. That’s when I realised I just punched Superman in the face. Oh, crap.

"Shit! I am so sorry!" I said raising my hands over my head in a non-threatening gesture. Apparently, the flying teen mistook my apology for a threat. How you ask. Beats me. Oh, and just so you know, getting hit by heat vision sucks.

She fired bright red beams at me from the sky while my back was turned and I retaliated. By forming a fist construct and smashing her to the ground.

That was when Superman got up. In my defence, I was just defending myself. Superman flew at me, and I knocked him off course with a frying pan construct before meeting super-cheerleader head on and throwing her into her blue-clad friend. I threw up a shield construct to meet their attack. I misjudged the strength of their attack, and my construct shattered, sending me smashing through a half-built wall and getting buried under a pile of scrap. Seeing that I was subdued, Superman turned his attention towards my caped ally who had done nothing but watch me get my ass kicked so far. He super speeded up to Batman and slammed him into a wall holding him by a section of his cape.

"So… what can you do?" the Man of Steel asked.

Batman slid a Batarang from his belt, sliced the section of his cape and rolled free, somersaulting and throwing smoke bombs to cover him.

"I can still see you."

Batman launched a grapple, but Superman used his super speed to catch the grapple before it had gone even halfway to its destination.

"the thing that attacked me had one of those boxes you have. He blew up. So, I'll ask you."

Batman began to retreat unloading his arsenal at his attacker, which as you can imagine was doing nothing other than pissing Superman off. Superman once again pinned Batman against a wall, holding him by the neck to make sure he couldn't escape.

"What are these boxes for. Talk!"

"Try…ing…to." Batman croaked in reply.

 

While the Man of Steel was confronting the Caped Crusader, super-cheerleader - as I had dubbed his female friend - was approaching the scrap heap where I was buried. She was obviously new at this because she walked up and pulled the scrap off me herself, opening her up for the bright white fist that slammed into her gut and the construct anvil that slammed down on her head, knocking her unconscious. I looked over to see Superman Interrogating Batman. So I intervened.

"Round two red-and-blue!"

I used my own superspeed to smash him in the face and wrap and lock him up in ten massive white construct chains.

Superman began struggling in the chains.

"Chains? You're funny." Then he braced and smashed them apart.

"He shattered my construct! How the hell did he do that?"

Supergirl chose that moment to wake up and charge us from behind, forcing me to encase Batman and me in an energy bubble to avoid them both pounding the shit out of us. They just started playing a very destructive form of tennis instead. By that I mean the two supers began smashing our little bubble across the city, straight through buildings and across rooftops.

"They're Angry," Batman said.

"SO AM I!!"

"They were worked into a frenzy by someone before us. We have to talk to them."

"I tried that."

"You punched him in the face."

"It was self-defence!"

"We can't stop them Dragon. They're too strong and too fast."

"Well, maybe we need some backup. Good thing I know a guy."

 

* * *

 

**Central City – STAR Labs**

 

RING, RING.

Barry looked over at his ringing phone and picked it up.

"Barry Allen here."

_"Flash! It's me! The Dragon!"_

"Josh! I told you never to call me…"

_"I could really use some help mate."_

 

* * *

 

**Metropolis - Seventh Ave and Main St… ish.**

"I'm in Metropolis at seventh and main. Err… Seventh and Broadway."

"You need to focus Dragon! You stop concentrating and that shield breaks apart." Batman intoned.

"Shut Up!"

 _"Who's that?"_ Barry asked from the other end of the line.

"I'm with Batman."

_"Batman's real?"_

"Yeah, he's a total tool."

The line went silent for a moment before Barry started talking again.

_"What did you do?"_

"I didn't do anything."

_"You always do something."_

"No, I don't."

_"Last time I talked to you it was after you just attacked S.H.I.E.L.D and started a massive shootout in the middle of Central City."_

"You did what!!" Batman practically screamed.

"I saved your life."

_"You put it in danger in the first place!"_

"I didn't start this fight."

"Yes, you did," Bruce said with a smug expression from his position in our slowly breaking bubble.

_"What fight?"_

"Me and Batman Vs Superman and Supergirl."

_"What!! Are you crazy!!"_

"I've been wondering that for years. Look, I'll explain after you run over here and help me tire them out!"

_"No."_

"No?!"

_"You know what happened the last time the public saw the Flash and the Dragon together."_

"We beat up a talking Gorilla, and I kicked your arch enemy’s ass."

_"And we destroyed the museum of natural history doing it. The Police have mobilised a "Flash Task Force" to bring me in!”_

"Flash these guys are going to kill us! Shit!!" The bubble shattered and we landed hard in the middle of a plaza. The two supers landing in front of us.

_"All right, I'll see you in a flash!"_

The phone went dead, and Superman was sent flying across the plaza by a bolt of lightning. Well, rather a man who moves like a bolt of lightning.

 

"Now it's a fair fight!" I said, my signature smirk lighting my face while Batman just rolled his eyes

"I don't like being attacked!" Superman yelled before charging the Flash at superspeed. Flash easily dodged. While Barry was keeping Superman busy, I could focus my full attention on Supergirl. A burst of super speed saw me colliding with the caped heroine and sending her into the air before following her and engaging in aerial combat.

"I think…" Barry was saying as he dodged the Man of Tomorrow's attacks, "this is a big misunderstanding."

Superman tried to use his heat vision, but it looked like it was standing still to the Fastest Man Alive.

"Don't bother trying to catch me, Superman. I've never been touched."

Superman swung again.

"Like, ever."

But this time he flicked his hand at the last minute catching the Flash in the face and sending him crashing into a car.

"He actually hit me! Ow."

Supergirl fired heat vision at me but expecting the trick I created a mirror and redirected the beam back at her sending her crashing to the ground next to her cousin. That was when Batman stepped in front of Superman, who was about to attack Flash once more.

"Superman Stop! Please. We're not working with those fire-breathing monsters. We were attacked. Just like you. We think these boxes are alien in design. None of us has much experience with extra-terrestrials. We thought maybe you might know what they were."

"Yeah. What Batman said." I told him pointing at the Caped Crusader and letting him do the talking.

"I've never seen a creature like that before. That's why I went to Kara to see if she knew anything. We were on our way back here when the second one attacked."

"Did it have one of these?" Batman asked holding up the box.

"I thought it blew up with him."

"What blew up with what?" Barry asked still confused.

Supergirl got up and stood by her cousin.

"We finished fighting?" she asked.

"Seems so."

 

"Civilians Clear the Area. Vigilantes, surrender now." Came the announcement and flood lights from a strange jet-like vehicle above us. I recognised the design immediately. It was a Quinjet.

"S.H.I.E.L.D!! We gotta move!" I practically spat.

"Great. Just what the Flash needs, more bad rep with S.H.I.E.L.D." Barry said

"What's shield?" Superman and Supergirl asked simultaneously.

"It's a long story, and this is not my fault Flash."

"I'm not a vigilante. I don't want to get lumped into this." Flash said back at me.

"You wear a mask." I pointed out.

"I never break the law," Barry responded.

"You think they care about that?"

"The military, this means Lex Luthor won't be far behind," Superman started preparing to fight.

"Trust me these guys make Lex Luthor look like a kid with a baseball bat. Come on this way." Batman called out, removing the cover of a sewer entrance.

"Seriously what is it with you and sewers?" I asked the Bat as he jumped down the hole.

"Why should we come with you?" Supergirl asked.

"Because you're like us," Batman told her. Flash and I followed Batman into the sewer with the two supers following behind us.

"No one's like me," Superman stated but amended his statement when his cousin glared at him, "except her."

"That's not what the rest of the world thinks _Superman_."

As we were running down the sewer channel and moved next to Batman.

"You look extra serious," I told him.

"I'm concerned. You should be too."

"About what?"

"I'm worried they're more than one of these boxes out there." He said plainly.

 

 

 


	6. We Beat up the God of Apokolips (And no I didn't spell it wrong)

_Justice League Vol 1 (#3)_

 

> _“Wars are never won, regardless of who might be the victor. The very act of war in itself is a horrible defeat.”_
> 
> _– Hal Jordan (Green Lantern)_

 

#  We Beat up the God of Apokolips (And no I didn't spell it wrong)

**Metropolis 8:00 pm 20 th November 2023**

The 5 of us were standing in the middle of an abandoned underground printing press looking at the box.

 _"Hello? Dragon? Come in Dragon."_ Katelyn yelled through my earpiece.

"Oracle! I'm so sorry. It wasn't me, the ring did it, not me!" I told her. Everyone was looking at me, it was awkward.

 _"Don't worry about it. What I am worried about is the video footage all over CNN of you, Superman, Supergirl, Batman and the Flash having a battle to the death in the middle of City Plaza!"_ Her voice was so loud I cringed.

"In my defence, I didn't start it."

_"Why don't I believe you?"_

"Because you know me too well."

_"Whatever. So, fill me in. What's going on? "_

"Yeh, I would like to know what's going on too," Barry asked.

_"Was that the Flash?"_

I projected a screen construct which displayed a video feed off Katelyn, allowing her to see and hear everyone.

"Hi, Oracle," Barry said waving at her.

"Miss." Superman acknowledged her with a nod.

"Hi," Supergirl said smiling at her.

"Oracle." Bruce tilted his head at the screen.

_"Ok. So, what is that?"_

"That is the lynchpin. Basically, so everyone is on the same page. After I received this message," I created a phone construct and played the rings message for the cohort, the fewer people who know I don't actually have powers the better.

"I got pulled to Gotham, where I helped Mr Dark and Brooding over here with a monster problem, and we found this box thingy. Bats thought it was alien, so we decided to come here to Metropolis to see if you two knew anything about it, which you do not. We kind of ended up fighting each other, till I called Flash for backup and then we stalemated. Then S.H.I.E.L.D. showed up, and we had to skedaddle. Now Batsy thinks there may be more of these things out there and I think that’s about where we are now. That about some it up?" I said. As Katelyn and Barry nodded their understanding.

"Ok. So, what now?" Supergirl asked.

"Maybe you could take it apart really quick and take a look?" I suggested to Barry.

"I don't think I should."

"Why not." "

It could be radioactive."

"Good point."

"I can't see through it to tell either," Superman said shrugging.

"You can see through things?" Barry said, zipping over to stand next to Superman.

"Most of the time. What can you do Batman?"

"I can keep us on point. Is there anything we can learn from this thing?"

"I could take it in for analysis and see if I can find any fingerprints or traces of DNA," Flash said.

"You sound like a cop," Bruce observed.

"I am; I work in the crime lab," Barry told him.

"Barry, you're exposing your identity!"

"This coming from the person who has his girlfriend on a holographic Skype call."

"Touché."

"Guys stop squabbling and shut up. It's doing something." Supergirl said. Sure enough, the box was starting to beep. Faster, faster, faster…

"What's it doing?" Superman asked no one in particular.

 

Then everything went to hell. The box opened, and exploded, opening a massive portal in the middle of the room. Swarms of those monsters came charging through the portal screaming, "For Darkseid!!"

 

 

"CNN News reporter Josie Stevens reporting live as reports of these strange portals are opening across the world and unleashing armies of demons. At this moment all evidence seems to indicate that these so called super-humans are the cause of all this. This is it, people. Judgement day is upon us."

 

_"Guys this is Oracle. I've patched into Flash and Batman's suits. This isn't an isolated incident; it's happening all across the globe. Metropolis seems to be the heart of the attack, and everyone seems to think that it has something to do with you guys. I think this might be the first stage of a full-scale invasion."_

 

Superman, Supergirl, Batman, Flash and I had been pushed back into the streets of the city, we were fighting monster after monster after monster. For every 2 we took down 5 more took their place.

"What else is knew!" Supergirl yelled as she blasted a demon with her heat vision.

 

"Wait Batman do you have any powers?" Flash said over the noise as he picked up a citizen and superspeeded them out of the path of the creatures.

"Please don't hurt me!" the lady whimpered as Flash set her down.

"I'm only trying to help ma'am."

Flash super speed back into the thick of the battle, taking out monsters along the way.

"I thought you were a vampire or something." He said as he made his way towards Batman.

Batman ignored him, going on to say, "We need to take a step back and regroup. There are too many to just barrel through."

"Tell that to Superman," Barry told him.

Said Man of Steel was just punching his way through ten monsters at a time.

"Come on! That’s it, smile for me!" And he smashed about 100 of them with a truck like it was a cricket bat.

"I can do that too!!" Supergirl yelled and followed her cousin's lead, crushing monsters by the dozens.

"Where are they taking all of them," I yelled.

"Taking who?" Supergirl asked.

"The people," I told her pausing to get a good look.

"Dragon’s right. They aren’t trying to kill anyone." Batman said over the noise

I summoned a massive boulder that flattened about 3 dozen of the things in response to this, "Ha, Ha!! Talk about an Indiana Jones reference!" I yelled at them as they began retreating, "Looks like we scared them off." I said floating up in the air to get a better vantage point.

"No their assembling," Batman said, running towards the coast a few blocks away, the rest of us following. We stopped at the water's edge.

_"Guys, satellites are picking up massive seismographic pulses erupting from the Metropolis Bay. Dragon, you gotta stop the resulting tidal wave before it hits the city."_

Sure enough, a massive medieval-like tower erupted out of the water, displacing heaps of water and sending it straight towards the city.

  

"I'm on it." I rocketed up into the sky and focussed all my energy on erecting a wall around the coast to stop the water. The wave subsided, and I drifted back to the ground letting go of the construct. I landed on the ground and took a dozen deep breaths. Superman clapped me on the shoulder, "Nice job Dragon."

"Thanks."

I didn't get to rest long though as a new wave (no pun intended) of monsters came up from under the water surface and charged. But before we could do anything we heard a massive roar erupt behind us.

"Roarrrrrrrrr!" A skyscraper window smashed, and a giant green beast jumped out, leaving an impact crater where it hit the ground. It leapt over the five of us and began ripping the monsters to shreds. Once it had finished, it turned towards us and smiled before beating its chest and letting out another earth-shattering roar.

"Well… That just happened. I don't know if you speak English but if you can understand me but thanks, I guess." I told it.

"HULK SMASH TINY GREEN BUG MONSTERS!!!"

Then a sonic boom erupted behind us, making us turn around to see Iron Man touch down next to Superman.

"Looks like this is where the party's at." Typical Tony Stark.

"What are you doing here Stark?" Superman questioned, hands on his hips, glaring at the armoured hero.

"I'm here to help. In all seriousness, though. I've been studying those boxes and have one in containment back in my lab right now. Since it activated, my AI has been decoding information being sent from it and the other cubes. They call them Mother-Boxes. Those demon things are alien organisms from a place called Apokolips called Parademons, that’s what they're doing to the humans they capture. They're turning them into those… things."

Iron Man's debriefing was interrupted by bullets raining down on us from above. I threw a shield over us and watched as the bullets bounced off.

"Seriously! We're trying to help for fuck's sake,"

_"I'm inside the military intelligence servers and am watching what's going on in the White House Situation Room. No one really knows what's going on. They don't have the information that you do. They have nothing to go on."_

"Who said that?" Stark said looking around.

_"I did." And a video call of Katelyn appeared on Stark's heads up display, "Oracle. Pleased to meet you Mr Stark."_

"You hacked my suit! How'd you do that?"

_"Simple. Your suit's wireless system is connected via a Stark Industries satellite. Which in turn is synced to a network with a server cashe in Los Angeles California. I just deployed a remote access cryptographic program into your system which eventually decoded and allowed me to access your suits automatic functions."_

"Wow. I'm impressed."

"She's taken. Now can we stop with the technobabble and do something about these helicopters. I can't keep this up forever." I said, gesturing to the shield I was holding up, which was slowly beginning to crack.

"Good point," Stark said before blasting off and attacking the helicopters.

A few seconds later, another boom rocked the city. A giant figure was now floating over the bay, slowly moving towards us. He was big, ugly and was wearing some sort of high tech blue armour.

"I guess that’s the bad guy," Supergirl said.

"Lucky guess," Batman stated in reply.

"I am Darkseid!!" he lifted his hands and the earth beneath our feet literally exploded scattering and burying, me, Hulk, Supergirl, Iron Man and Batman in rubble.

 

Superman and Flash managed to dodge the explosion with their super speed. Darkseid stared at the two heroes left standing. Then his eyes began glowing red.

"We're going to have to move fast," Flash told his blue-suited comrade.

"Not a problem for me." And Darkseid fired laser beams straight out of his eyes.

"Move!" The Man of Steel and the Scarlet Speedster blasted off with sonic booms, shattering every glass window on the street.

"There splitting up! They can do that?" Barry yelled over the rush of wind.

"They’re locked on us!"

The two heroes split off, Superman flying uptown, Flash running downtown.

"Ok, Barry. You're moving fast so think fast." Barry was a streak of lightning moving through the city as Darkseid's beam followed him.

"Just gotta find a different target." Barry phased through a group of Parademons and let the beam take them out before sliding to a halt.

"Whew never had to… catch my… breath before. Oh, no Superman." Superman had not been as lucky. He had been hit by the beam and was now being carried towards the tower by one of the creatures.

"Damn, it I can't fly!" Flash then superspeeded back to where his comrades were slowly waking up.

 

* * *

 

 "They took him. They took Superman!" Flash yelled as he approached his ally's.

"Why?" Supergirl asked getting up and frantically looking for her cousin.

"Let's ask him." Iron Man said pushing aside a piece of tar. A roar from Hulk followed his statement.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Batman said with a roll of his eyes.

"Stand back and peep the light show," I told him before leaping towards Darkseid, forming a giant hammer construct,

"Dragon’s Got this!!" I brought the hammer down, and it shattered on impact. He then swatted me like I was an annoying bug and I catapulted into a car. Hulk bellowed and launched his own attack at the giant alien. His giant green fists did no better than my construct did, and he suffered the same fate.

"That all you got? Not all I got!" I formed a train construct around myself and charged at him. The construct shattered as if it was made of glass on impact, he then grabbed me by my arm and squeezed. I had never felt that much physical pain before.

"ARRGHHH!!!" The bones in my arm cracked, and he threw me like you might throw a tennis ball. I smashed into the side of a pole and landed in a heap on the ground. He then began walking away.

"Hey, I'm not through with you yet…Ahh." I tried to get up, but the pain in my arm was incredible.

"Dragon!" Batman yelled as he dropped down from a car hood.

"He levelled the entire block, we need to stop, find the others and regroup."

"Out of my way Batman. I can handle this."

"Your arm is broken you idiot."

I created a construct arm piece to contain my broken left arm.

"Ring's still working. Power's at 36%. That's all that matters."

"You're going to die."

"Then I die!"

"How would Katelyn feel about that?" Batman said, causing me to pause. I could hear her furiously tapping away at her keyboard on the other side of the connection.

"What are you trying to prove?"

"I am not trying to prove anything you phenomenal jackass."

"Then who are you trying to live up to?"

"Don't act like you know me, Batman, you don't."

"I'll bet no one, besides maybe Katelyn, really does."

"Is that your superpower? Psychoanalysis?"

"We're just somewhat… alike."

"You and I are nothing alike."

"We're fighting alongside two aliens, a human lightning bolt, a giant green rage monster and a man with an electronic heart. As far as I can tell Josh, you and I are the only normal people here."

"Wearing a bat suit is normal?"

Batman took a step back and took off his cowl.

"We have similar stories you and me. We've both dedicated our lives to a mission, albeit slightly different ones. But this is different. This isn't about me, and it isn't about you either. This is bigger than I am and it's bigger than you are. Get out of your own way. Focus on what's important here. Everyone else. Go regroup with the others. Come up with a plan. Get them working as a team."

Bruce unclasped his cape and folded it into one of his pockets. He then grabbed an old trench coat that was lying on the ground and put it on.

"Why me?"

"You're loud. They'll listen to you if you've got something to say. Try to at least sound smart and if you can't do that, ask your genius of a girlfriend to come up with one instead."

_"Thanks, Bruce."_

"Keep them alive and keep Darkseid busy until I get back."

"Get back from where? Where the hell do you think you're going?" I told him as he began walking off.

"I'm going to get Superman." Bruce stood up on top of an overturned car and put his arms up in the air. A Parademon swooped down and collected him, carrying him off towards the tower.

"Got a give him credit. Moron's crazier than I am."

 

I rounded up the others and told them to stop and listen.

"Okay, guys hold up for a minute."

"Dragon your arms broken in two places." Iron Man said pointing at me.

"Better two than three." Everyone gathered in a circle. I took a deep breath and told them my plan.

"Okay. It's pretty clear brute force isn't going to take this 'Darkseid' guy down, so we need to come up with a different solution. From what I see the biggest problem is those beams he shoots from his eyes. So I think we need to come up with a way to take them out of the equation. Any ideas?"

"Well he can't use his eye beams if he can't see, right? So why don't we try and blind him?" Supergirl pitched.

"I like the sound of that," Stark said.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do. We follow. We stay out of sight. As soon as we get within striking distance, I'll turn on the fireworks to get his attention, Iron Man and Hulk keep him distracted, and Flash and Supergirl will stab that son of a bitch in the eyes."

Everyone nodded their agreement.

"All right then. WE GOT THIS!!!" I yelled and flew off towards Darkseid's retreating figure, Barry and Hulk running and Stark and Supergirl flying, behind me.

 _"_ _We got this" that’s your big battle cry?" Oracle asked in my ear, giggling._

"Oh shut it."

_"Nice job back there."_

"I just hope it's enough."

 

Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Piper Mclean, Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Nico D'Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth-Dare, Thalia Grace and Chiron the Centaur sat around a ping-pong table looking at an Iris Message that was displaying what was going on in Metropolis to the Demigods.

"What is that thing?" Piper asked Chiron. Percy and Annabeth were both visibly shaking. Jason was watching wide-eyed and furious, and Leo was totally geeking out over the 'super-heroes'.

"A being of ancient power, one whom the gods swore long ago never to mention to anyone outside of the Olympian Council."

"Then how do you know about him?" Nico asked.

"I did not. Until Percy and Annabeth told me of their experience in Tartarus." Chiron told them.

'Well, that explains why they are shaking.' Piper thought.

"We should be helping. Those guys are out there trying to fight back an entire army on their own. We could help them." Jason said smashing his fist on the table, lightning dancing in his eyes.

"We cannot. To do so would draw unnecessary attention to the camp. Attention we cannot afford. These new monsters that we have never encountered before have not attacked us yet, and until we know if they can pierce the magical barrier around the camp we cannot risk drawing them to us." Chiron told him before turning back to the Iris message. Little did he know that in the throne room of Olympus, the twelve Olympian gods were watching the same footage, debating what they should do should the heroes currently fighting fail to repel Darkseid's power.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, in the streets of Metropolis, a massive horn blew, causing Darkseid to turn around, and get mauled in the face by a giant chainsaw.

"Made you look." The Dragon stated before ducking as the Hulk jumped over the hero and right hooked the god in the face, followed by twin repulsor blasts to the stomach.

"Darkseid, eat Hulk's fist." Iron Man said flying over his head launching rockets into his head as Hulk smashed him from behind and Dragon impacted him with a replica of Thor's hammer to the ribs.

Supergirl and Flash were standing in an alleyway waiting for the Dragon's signal, each holding a rather large crowbar.

"You ready for this?" Barry asked her.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she told him with a smile.

"You are all mine! As is your world." Darkseid roared. A white firework erupted behind him causing Darkseid to turn towards it. That was the signal.

The two heroes leapt out from the alley towards Darkseid.

"Like hell it is!" Barry yelled as his crowbar hit its mark. Supergirl landed and took out his other eye before kicking him in the face with every inch of her Kryptonian strength, enough to send him flying backwards into a truck. But it was only apparently a minor inconvenience for him as he just got straight back up.

"Two crowbars through his eyes and he's still standing? What else can we do?" Supergirl questioned in shock.

"SMASH!!" Hulk said before leaping back at Darkseid and punched him in the gut.

"Aside from that." She amended.

"I think I might be able to send him home." Stark said as he blasted a Parademon in the face, "if I'm right, and I'm always right, I can open those portals back up and pull all those creatures back to the world they came from. Cover me for a second."

"I'm on it," Flash said running around Iron Man as he began tinkering with his arc reactor and the Mother Box that Batman dropped.

Supergirl sledged Darkseid in the shoulder, causing him to stumble before smacking her into a nearby building.

"Got it! Boom Tube activation successful." Tony shouted. Sure enough, a loud boom resulted in a portal opening behind Darkseid sucking all the Parademons in the city into it. Darkseid began being pulled into the gateway as well.

"You cannot use my own technology against me! I am Darkseid."

There was another boom, and Superman flew out of the portal, grabbed Darkseid and used his super strength to throw him back towards the portal.

"I don’t care," Superman said as he proceeded to beat the crap out of Darkseid's face. Batman jumped out of the portal behind him, costume restored, and moved out of the way so Superman could throw him into the air, followed by Hulk who punched him into the portal.

"Now, Stark, slam the door in his face!" I yelled.

"Boom Tube shut down activating. Hold him there!" Stark said.

"I will return! You cannot…" BOOOM!!! The portal sealed shut, with Darkseid and his army of Parademons on the other side, leaving the city incredibly silent.

 

"They're all gone." Supergirl sighed in relief.

"Nice work Stark," Batman said.

"Thanks, Batsy."

"J.A.R.V.I.S. says that every one of their Mother Boxes is fried," Stark told us.

"Then they won't be able to come back anytime soon," Flash said.

"We’re being watched," Batman said gesturing to a growing crowd of people surrounding us.

Superman, Supergirl, Batman, Hulk, Iron Man, Flash and I stood next to each other as they approached us.

"Um, we should probably leave before they blame us again…" Flash suggested.

 

"You did it!"

You saved us!"

"Thank you!"

The crowd began clapping and cheering.

"What's your hurry Flash?" I asked the Scarlet Speedster.

 

* * *

 

**The Capital Building, Washington DC**

**21 st November 2023**

 

**"Today marks a momentous day in human history. In our darkest hour, these people donned their colourful costumes and went into action."**

All seven of us - even Hulk - were standing on the raised platform in front of the Capital Building while millions of people watched and cheered. The person speaking was the President of the United States.

"Costumes! This is technically a uniform," I said under my breath.

**"Just yesterday, we were attacked by an enemy unlike any we have ever encountered before, and we were saved by a team of heroes unlike any mankind has ever known."**

"Can you believe this?" Stark.

"That people aren't afraid of us?" Supergirl asked.

"That everyone thinks were a team. We're not a team." Stark finished, rolling his eyes.

**"This group of friends used their amazing gifts to protect us…"**

"And we're not friends either," Superman said. Hulk let out a low growl in confirmation.

"We need to let them think we're both," Batman said.

"Why?"

"It will limit S.H.I.E.L.D.'s options in all our cases and keep our respective Police Departments off our backs as well," Batman explained.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have the time to belong to a team." Stark said from inside the suit, although he had removed his helmet for the cameras."

"Neither do I," Superman stated.

"We can do it together," Flash said.

"Why? We all have other things we need to do. We're not friends. We're not a team. This was just a one-time thing." Stark said.

"I don't know Stark, I kind of liked being a part of something," Barry told him.

"I agree with Flash." Supergirl indicated.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Flash and Supergirl," I confirmed

"Yeh well don't count me in."

"And what if something like this happens again?" Batman questioned.

"What are the chances of that?" Stark snarked.

 **“And without further deliberation, let me present to you. The world's greatest heroes.** **_The Justice League."_ **

 

"Seriously?" Stark said.

"10 bucks Fury came up with that name.”

 

* * *

 

**7:30 pm – O’Neill Residence, Upper West Side, New York City**

I landed on the balcony of our apartment and walked inside to see Katelyn lying on the bed dozing. Maisie had recently moved to Metropolis to work with the Daily Planet, so was no longer living with us. I slipped off the ring and placed it on the bedside table to recharge before crawling into bed with my gorgeous girlfriend. She rolled over to face me, blonde hair falling over her face like a waterfall. I love it when it does that.

"Hey hero." She said.

"Yeh, that's going to take some getting used to again," I said.

"So, have you decided what you are going to do yet?" She asked.

"I just don't know."

 _"I want to, it's just what if what happens last time happens again?"_ I wondered. I should have remembered that she could read my thoughts.

_"Hey don't dwell on the past. What happened is not your fault."_

_"You know that’s not true."_

_"It is true. S.H.I.E.L.D. did this to me, not you. I've long since accepted and embraced it. You’re a superhero. Do you know how many people around the world would give up everything they owned, to get their hands on the powers you possess? Most would use it to steal things, things to make their own lives better. Then there's the tiny percentage who would use it to help people other than themselves. People like you."_

_"I'm afraid," I told her._

_"You would be a fool not to be. But. The thing is, that ring chose you for a reason because you are a person who can overcome great fear. That's what gives you the power to wear the ring."_

I was silent for a few minutes. I sighed before speaking up again.

"You’re right. This ring chose me for a reason. That man, however, he was, gave me a mission. To defend the weak, and use the power to help those who cannot help themselves. That mission still stands, and I think it's best I get back to doing it

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: So that's the second arc finished. Constructive criticism is always appreciated if anyone wants to give it.
> 
> I was having trouble deciding whether I wanted to do an X-Men arc or an Inhumans Arc next. So my sister, who is also my beta, gave me the idea of doing Demigods instead and now the Heroes vs Gods Arc is eleven chapters long. You got a taste of it earlier in this chapter. Don't worry you don't have to know anything about Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus to read the rest of the story. The paragraph featuring them above was purposely mysterious. You can just learn about the Demigods and their world as the League does. Also, everyone's favourite Norse God will be making his debut very soon, so stay tuned!


	7. Pearls, Percy’s and Dragons. But Not Necessarily in that Order

_Legend Comics Vol 2 (#14)_

 

> _“What is a Superhero? The dictionary says ‘a benevolent fictional character with superhuman powers’. My parents never had time for ‘superheroes’. They always said that they are just characters from a story. Made up. But they were wrong. Whether you live on Earth 0, Earth 25 or Earth 33, superheroes are so much more than something from a book or movie. Superheroes are an idea, a symbol. What they represent is so much more than the individuals themselves. Superheroes represent that no matter what happens you can come back stronger than you were before. That there are people out there, who can and will do anything to change the world for the better. Green Lantern represents on a fundamental level, overcoming fear. Superman is the ultimate symbol of hope. Batman is the most in-depth of them all. The very core of his character is that even from the lowest of lows, one can rise and become a hero. That’s what superheroes really are. Not just characters in a book with cool powers. They embody a principle. The belief that anyone can make a difference, that anyone can rise up and be whatever they want to be.”_
> 
> _– Josh O’Neill (The Dragon)_

 

#  Pearls, Percy’s and Dragons. But Not Necessarily in that Order

 

 

**August 20 th, 2024. Midtown, New York City**

 

Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were standing in line at a bank in New York City. The two half-bloods were now 25 years old and a few weeks ago on their 11-year anniversary and Percy’s 25th birthday, the son of Poseidon had proposed to his gorgeous girlfriend. The only thing that had prevented him from doing it earlier had been their age. The two had agreed that they wouldn’t get married until they were both 25 years old. Percy can be rather impatient at times. Soon after the two demigods had asked their friend Piper to get in touch with her mother Aphrodite (Goddess of Love, Beauty and Desire) to ask her for some sensible suggestions for their wedding. Surprisingly she had told them not to plan it all by themselves. She said that managing everything themselves would be incredibly difficult and that there were people in the mortal world who specialised in wedding planning. Aphrodite had then handed them a business card, a check and disappeared in an explosion of perfume. Percy and Annabeth were now waiting in the bank to cash the check, which was worth $300,000.

Annabeth glanced down at her hand where the beautiful engagement ring sat. The band was made with Imperial Gold from the Forges of Poseidon and set in the band was a gorgeous white pearl that Percy had found himself at the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by a ring of diamonds that he had salvaged from various shipwrecks across the eastern seaboard. He told her that he had asked his half-brother Tyson to help forge the ring. The Cyclops had been ecstatic that his brother asked him to create something so special; Percy had told her. Once completed, Percy had taken the piece of jewellery into a jeweller to have it appraised. The jeweller said it a 14-carat gold that he was unable to classify on the gold scale and that in total the piece was worth about $50,000. Annabeth couldn’t believe the amount of effort he had went to just for her, but she adored and loved it so much.

 

The couple were just about to reach the front of the line when the window at the front of the bank shattered, and a dozen armed individuals dressed in black motorcycle outfits and ski masks burst in yelling at everyone to get down on the ground. Annabeth didn’t know a lot about human weapons, but she could tell that the guns carried by the robbers were much higher quality than simple handguns. Everyone in the bank dropped to their knees and crowded in the middle of the room. Annabeth had to literally drag Percy to the floor, both knew perfectly well that Percy could take out all twelve of them, and she could tell he was practically itching for some action. His hand was hovering right next to his pocket where Riptide was concealed in pen form.

Eight of the robbers stood around the rounded-up hostages while the others took all the on-hand cash out of the vault.

A tense few minutes passed by. Police sirens could be heard approaching outside. The twelve people gathered around the hostages and dispersed the money into twelve backpacks. They were obviously planning on splitting up and regrouping later Annabeth thought. They were preparing to leave when everything went wrong. One of the robbers caught sight of Annabeth’s engagement ring. Anyone with a brain in their head could tell it was worth a lot of money.

“That ring hand it over.” The voice was muffled by his ski-mask, but the point was clear. As you can imagine Percy being the idiot that he was wasn’t going to take that lying down. He stood up and shoved the man backwards.

 

“Leave her alone.” He told him as the man stumbled backwards from the force of Percy’s shove. The safety on ever gun in the room clicked off at the same time. The situation was spiralling fast.

 

Then a slow clapping could be heard everyone turned towards the front entrance where a figure in a skin tight black armour with white lights and grooves traced over the arms and legs all joining up to form a white comet on his chest stood leaning against a wall.

 

“Nice job mate, always stand up for others no matter the cost to yourself. That’s what I always say,” The Dragon said very casually before winking at Percy, “So a friend of mine calls and says there it a commotion going on down at the Midtown Wells Fargo branch, so I decided to see what was going on. Turns out there are these twelve nut jobs robbing the bank, and they’ve taken 10 hostages. Now we can’t have that can we.” He told them all with a smile on his face. Annabeth could have sworn she had heard that voice somewhere before. The robber standing next to Annabeth aimed his gun at her and said,

 

“Leave now Dragon, or I will blow the girl's brains out.” Annabeth reacted before the Dragon could even say anything in response. She twisted, grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it upwards slamming it into the bridge of the guy’s face, causing the guy to stumble backwards and releasing his grip on the gun. Annabeth spun the weapon around and pointed it at the closest man dressed in black. In theory, a good idea. However, she forgot that there was a guy behind her. A gun shot echoed from behind her. Before Annabeth can even process what’s going on, she feels someone pick her up, and she is engulfed in white lightning a second later she realised that she was in the Dragons arms outside the bank next to five police cars. Then she looked up, and she saw something impossible. The Dragon put her down on her feet, dropping the bullet he caught on the ground.

“Are you ok?” He asked.

Annabeth just nodded her head, trying to come to terms with what just happened, the cogs of her mind spinning as she tried to connect the dots in her head. The Dragon turned around and sped back into the bank, disarming all the thugs and throwing their guns out the broken bank window.

Percy was trying to figure out what just happened. One second he was trying to defend his fiancé. Then she busts out her ninja moves and disarms a guy, then the guy behind her shoots her, and she disappears in a flash of white light. Even his ADHD brain was struggling to keep up. Then all the thugs were disarmed by a bolt of lightning that moved around the room. Then the Dragon was standing in the room.

“Ok now you can either turn yourselves in, or you can try to fight me, and I can turn you in.” All twelve thugs rushed towards the Dragon. Percy was about to help him when suddenly all the thugs tripped on something and were pulled to the roof where they were now hanging by their feet, body’s dangling down. Percy looked to where their feet were and saw them all attached to the roof by thick glowing white ropes.

“Looks like I’m turning you in then.” He said with a sigh. Then he walked over to the rest of the hostages who were sitting on the ground terrified and helped each of them up telling them that they were safe now. He then walked over to Percy and held out his hand.

“That took guts mate. You should be incredibly proud of what you did.” He said. Percy shook his hand and followed the rest of the group outside. Once they were all outside a team of cops ran inside to secure the robbers. Percy ran towards Annabeth and gave her a crushing hug before turning back to the look at the Dragon and mouthing thank-you. The Dragon simply nodded back at him.

Annabeth saw the Dragon nod at Percy. She was now deadly sure. There was no possible way she could be wrong. Her thoughts drifted back to earlier in the day in the conference room at Stark Tower, which had been officially completed the day before. Annabeth was the chief Architectural designer for the tower. She had designed and overseen the entire construction. Making sure the entire tower was built to her design. It had been an incredibly stressful job, and she couldn’t believe she had been able to do it at all. But she had, and it had been so much fun. Then the door at the end of the room opened, and Josh O’Neill, head of Political Relations for Stark Industries, and his girlfriend Katelyn Sheppard, head of Cyber Security, moved in and sat down next to her, Josh removing a chair so that Katelyn could move her own chair underneath the desk. Since she had been recruited by Stark Industries over 9 months earlier, she had made a tight friendship with the two. She had worked closely with them both during the construction as she needed their expertise and approval over numerous things she wanted to add.

The three began talking about various things before Pepper Potts, and Tony Stark himself walked into the room. Annabeth had only seen the man a few times and found him very overbearing, but he was incredibly smart. At first, she had thought that he may have even been a child of Athena himself, but she quickly discarded that idea. Stark coughing brought her out of her musing.

“Well everyone (there were 12 people in the room in total, all various important people from the project.) We have finally completed this giant tower. Well done. You should all pat yourself on the back, go out, and party, everyone in this room deserves to get laid tonight.” Pepper sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Now I have a meeting in five minutes, so I need to make this quick. I’m not very big on complementing people who aren’t me, so I’m just going to do this as easily as possible. Our head of Architectural Design Arthur what’s a face will be announcing his retirement tomorrow, and I plan to announce his replacement as soon as possible. Annabeth, in recognition for your amazing work on this project blah blah blah… I am going to promote you to head of Architectural Design for Stark Industries. You think you’re up for it?” Stark said. All eyes in the room turned towards me. I thought about it for a second. It would mean a considerable pay increase, the hours would be no longer than the ones she was working at the moment, and it would mean she wouldn’t need to start looking for another job.

“Just one question,” Annabeth said.

Stark raised an eyebrow and looked at her. “Shoot.”

“Will I be based here at the tower or at the L.A. Complex?”

“Your choice. You’d have offices in both cities so you can monitor the various projects from we have going on around the world. There’s a bit of travelling that’s involved but it's paid for by the company, and you get to fly on one of our private jets so…” Stark let the sentence hang for extra effect.

“I’ll do it.” Annabeth stood up and offered her hand to Stark who took it and shook it.

“Brilliant. Ok, Pepper what’s next.” Stark said. Pepper’s answer was forestalled by three watches going off at the same time. Stark, Josh and Katelyn all looked down at their watches. Annabeth got a quick look at the logo on the screen, a gold JL on a silver shield. The symbol of the Justice League. Stark immediately left the room followed by Josh who wheeled Katelyn away. Annabeth spent the rest of the morning with Pepper as she was briefed on all her new responsibilities. It was only later that she discovered that the Justice League had been sighted battling a giant dinosaur-like monster in Miami.

 

Annabeth was snapped out of the memory by the sound of everybody clapping. The Dragon simply bowed before blasting off into the sky leaving a white vapour trail behind him.

“Percy we have a problem.”

“What, what is it.”

“I know who the Dragon really is.”

 

 

* * *

 

**The Council of the Gods, Mount Olympus**

**Another Dimension**

**The Winter Solstice, 21 st December 2024**

 

The Gods of Olympus sat on their respective thrones watching an Iris Message hovering over the hearth in the middle of the room. All twelve gods and Hades – whom ever since the second Titan War had been permitted a throne in the Hall – were viewing a recording of the Justice League’s recent battle against an individual called H’El. The being believed to be from Superman and Supergirl’s home world had taken control of Supergirl’s mind and tried to turn the planet into a fuel source to travel back in time to stop Krypton’s destruction. The League freed Supergirl and stopped H’El who is believed deceased.

 

“As you can see these humans are becoming a problem. With every battle, they become stronger and stronger. The humans call them ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ and label them as the protectors of Earth. Since the so-called Justice League’s foundation, the number of humans with abnormal abilities coming forward as heroes and villains have tripled. These Meta-humans are a threat to our control over the world. They are disturbing the delicate balance between the human and the godly, the mundane and the magical worlds. Even the Mist is growing weaker. It is harder to hide our actions and the actions of our children from them, soon I fear the Mist will become so weak that even our most sacred sites will be revealed to the mortals. We must act.” Zeus, Lord of the Skies and King of the Gods, said as the Iris video disappeared.

“What’s your problem with the Justice League?” Apollo, God of the Sun, the Arts, Prophecy and Healing asked his father.

“They hold too much power. Human’s should not be allowed to hold power equal to that of the Gods.” Zeus explained.

“Seriously? You think the puny humans can come even close to challenging us?” Ares, God of War, stated.

“I agree with Ares. I think you’re over thinking this Zeus.” Dionysus, God of Wine and Revelry said drinking a can of Diet Coke.

“The Justice League is dangerous, and clearly you have not been paying attention Ares and Dionysus. The human team has vanquished numerous foes since it’s coming together that our children would seriously struggle against…” Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy began.

“Sorry to interrupt Athena, but aren’t we all forgetting something,” Poseidon, God of the Seas said, “The Justice League are a team of Heroes. They are using their gifts to make the world a better place. There certainly doing more than us.”

“If you had let me finish Poseidon I would have said something similar,” Athena said glaring at the sea god.

“I think your son’s opinions are rubbing off on you Poseidon, don’t make me reconsider restoring the law that Gods are forbidden to interact with their children,” Zeus said looking at Poseidon.

“I think you're all conveniently ignoring the fact that these guys took on Darkseid and won,” Hermes, God of Messages, Speed and Thieves told them, “Darkseid, a being even the Celestials and the Asmerians have lost too. If they can take on Darkseid and win they can sure as hell take us on and have a fifty-fifty chance of winning.”

“If I may be so bold as to ask a question. Aren’t the Justice League doing exactly what our own children doing? Yet we aren’t placing them in the same category. Why?” Hades God of the Underworld queried.

“Because the heroes of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter operate under our authority and jurisdiction. The Justice League do not. They are loose cannons that could turn on us and threaten our control of the world.” Zeus told him.

 

The council sat silent for a few minutes. Eventually, Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Beauty and Desire broke the silence.

“Clearly none of us wants to go first I’ll raise my hand in defence of the Justice League, anyone cares to join me?”

Poseidon raised his hand. “I agree with Aphrodite. The Justice League are heroes, we should be doing all we can to help them, not discredit them.”

“I too stand in the human’s defence,” Athena said.

“As do I,” Hades said.

“I think the Justice League is doing a bang-up job. Sorry, father but I’m on their side.” Apollo said.

“I have a more active role in the mortal community than any of you, and I have seen firsthand what the Justice League are willing to do to protect humanity. But I think this topic is a moot point anyway.” Artemis, Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt stated.

Zeus desperate to change the sway of the argument back in his favour spoke up again.

“Why’s that Artemis?”

“Half the League aren’t human. They aren’t our jurisdiction.” She said simply.

 

The silence that followed was deafening.

 

“What do you mean?” Ares asked.

“Superman and Supergirl are the sole survivors of the Planet Krypton. Power is not given to us to determine the fate of their last son and daughter. The Flash is obviously empowered by the speed-force. The Multiversity Accords as agreed to by the Asmerians, the Asgardians, the Elves, the Inhumans and ourselves, specifically specifies that individuals granted power by the Speed Force are not under the jurisdiction of any godly force. Batman and Iron Man on their own are formidable adversaries but of no threat to us. That leaves the Hulk and the Dragon. The Hulk is an indestructible force of nature which is, as far as I can tell at least, indestructible. I doubt even a blast from the Master Bolt would kill him. And as for the Dragon, from what I have observed, he has the same powers as an Asmerian, he may even be able to regenerate.” Artemis explained.

“I have to clarify something that you have said there Artemis. As the god of Technology, I can sense all types of technology, no matter the origin. I travelled down to one of the League’s battlegrounds myself to observe the one called Iron Man’s armour as I was intrigued by its design. I discovered something else. The Dragon is not a Meta-human.” Hephaestus, The God of Fire and Technology, said.

“Then what is he,” Apollo asked.

“I could sense a piece of technology, most likely Asmerian in origin on his person. It is that that gives him powers. I could not tell what or where the device is but it was definitely there.” Hephaestus told him.

 

The council was quiet once again as the gods considered this new information.

“I say we put it to a vote,” Zeus said, “As Artemis has pointed out we cannot do anything about Superman, Supergirl or the Flash. Iron Man and Batman are irrelevant. We must decide if we are to remove the threats of the Hulk and the Dragon from the table. All those in favour say I.”

‘I’s’ came from Zeus, Hera, Ares, Dionysus, Hephaestus and Demeter

“And those against.”

‘I’s’ came from Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes and Hades.

“The result is six for seven against. We will continue to monitor the situation and reconvene if circumstances change. The council is adjourned.” Zeus said before disappearing in a flash of light. One by one the rest of the Gods disappeared in a similar manner until only Poseidon, Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite remained. The four Olympians then gathered at the hearth.

“We cut it close today,” Poseidon said.

“I agree. Zeus will no doubt monitor our activities more closely from now on. I suggest you and I Poseidon lay low for a while,” Athena said, “Artemis, keep up your observations he can’t stop you from watching the League and Aphrodite we need you to keep an eye on them even closer than before as Poseidon, and I will be in the dark.”

“Make sure to keep in contact with Percy and Annabeth at Camp Half-Blood as well. They are the ones who convinced us to support this team in the first place. I will go and talk to them before returning to my underwater palace.” Poseidon told the two goddesses before dissolving. He was soon followed by the other three.

 

* * *

 

**Vorton: Multiversal Headquarters of the League of Heroes**

**Situated within the Bleed. Beyond Space, Time and Dimension**

“This doesn’t look good.” Riker Celestial told his sister Anneliese Celestial who was standing next to him. Both had been watching the deliberation of the Olympian Council in regards the Justice League.

“We can’t do anything.” She told him.

“Why not?” He asked her.

“They haven’t done anything against the law that we can prove. We can’t make a move until they do.” Anneliese told him.

“That kid has his powers because of me. It’s my fault. If Zeus lays a finger on his head, I swear upon the all the gods, the Old and the New, that I will rip the pompous jerk’s immortal head off and dip it in the Emotional Reservoir. Tell the entire base to be on alert. I have a bad feeling about this.”

 

 


	8. Sometimes this Job can be really fun. Other times it’s really inconsiderate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: So this marks the beginning of my first ‘crossover’ arc between what I like to call Legend Comics (Where the solo adventures of the Dragon take place) and Justice League Gold (The main ‘team-up’ series in what I like to call this ‘United Comics Universe’. I don’t know why, but I decided to create an entire comic book history/series line up for this. It’s a bit spoilery for other stuff I have planned but if anyone wants to see it I might put it in here.

_Legend Comics Vol 3 (#15) Heroes vs Gods - Part 1_

> _“Life doesn’t give us purpose. We give life purpose.”_
> 
> _– The Flash_

# Sometimes this Job can be really fun. Other times it’s really inconsiderate.

**Columbus Circle, New York City, USA**

**May 16 th, 2025**

 

Wargs. I am fighting a pack of Wargs. I am fighting a pack of Wargs in Columbus Circle. I am fighting a pack of Wargs with a magic ring in the middle of New York City. I love my life.

 

Seven brown coated wolves each easily the size of a land cruiser were tearing up Columbus Circle. My main objective was to prevent the rather important statue of Christopher Columbus that stood in the middle of the massive roundabout. I materialised a white whip and snapped it around a wolf’s neck. I then jumped over the giant canine and used the forward momentum to slam it into a pole. The creature then dissolved into golden dust. Could this day get any weirder? Two more of the monsters charged at me. I ran to meet them and materialised two lightsabres. I sliced them in half, and they exploded into dust like their comrades. 3 down 4 to go.

“If we’re going Lord of the Rings cosplaying I better dress for the occasion,” I said to nobody in particular. I materialised a bow and quiver of arrows and set to work. I’ll admit I am probably a terrible shot. Good for me that the arrows go wherever I want them to then isn’t it. Two shots two dust puddles then the Wargs were on top of me. The things were about to eat my head off. Their breath was incredibly bad. I guess a history of reading X-Men Comics paid off in this case as the two remaining monsters got wolvy claws down their throats. Let me tell you that dust is incredibly sticky. It took three showers to get the stuff out of my hair. It was rather inconvenient as I had a dinner planned with Katelyn down in the city. She had been having a ‘girls’ day with Annabeth, Maisie and some other friends, so had agreed to meet me there. A quick flight and transformation in an alley got me to the riverside restaurant only five minutes late. I walked in the door of the restaurant to see my beautiful girlfriend sitting at a table looking out the window. She was wearing a gorgeous white strapless gown that looked like it belonged in Ancient Greece. Now that call I got from Annabeth earlier telling me to wear a white tie made so much more sense.

“Sorry, I’m late!” I said apologetically.

“Why are you thinking about The Lord of the Rings?” She said sceptically.

“I got attacked. But I’m here now, and I have a surprise for you when the main course comes.”

“You got us tickets to go to Malibu!” She said reading my mind. Sometimes I really hate that.

“Not just go to Malibu, I got Stark to loan us one of his beachside mansions.”

“That is going to be so romantic, I can’t wait. Now tell me why you’re thinking of The Lord of the Rings at a time like this.”

“I got attacked by Wargs, you know the big vicious dogs the size of a Land Cruiser in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings,” I told her.

“They came out of an alleyway and attacked while I was in civilian mode, and they turned into this weird sticky dust crap when I killed them. Anyway, enough talk about larger than average canines, we have food to eat and can you at least act surprised when I show you the tickets later?”

“I’m sure I can manage that,” Kate said with a smile.

 

* * *

 

**Malibu Point, Los Angeles, California**

**June 28 th, 2025**

 

Do you know how difficult it is to keep secrets from your telepathic girlfriend? I had to ask Stark to build me a waterproof neural inhibitor that I could place somewhere on my body to stop her from ruining her own surprise by accident. So now here we are sitting in the water off the Malibu Coast, our very large and romantic beach house only 25 metres from the ocean in the distance. Everything was peaceful and quiet – in direct contrast to New York City. I had arranged everything down to the micro level. I was so confident I had even left my ring in New York. It was just Katelyn and I. No superpowers, no saving the day, just a couple enjoying a holiday.

 

We were in the nice calm flat water just sitting there, enjoying the warmth of the sun and each other’s company. Katelyn loved swimming for the same reason that most paraplegics love swimming. Because she could move her entire body of her own free will. She could move around as much as wanted – given she still has to use her arms to move because her legs are still for all intents and purposes immobile.

 

I was deliberately wearing a pair of board shorts with deep waterproof pockets to hide the tiny blue box inside. I looked up and saw the sun was directly overhead. Time to do this thing. I turned over onto my stomach and paddled over to Kate who was lying on her back, eyes closed a few metres away. I took her hand and reorientated her, so she was upright.

“What are you doing? I was tanning.” She said. That gorgeous violet bikini is not making this any easier.

“I’ve been thinking a lot over these last few months about what I would be if I never met you. The way my life would have gone if you never been a part of it.” She brushed her blond hair behind her ear and continued to listen, a soft smile on her face.

“To be perfectly honest I don’t think I would have made it this far. I certainly never would have gotten the Ring. I never would have become the Dragon. I never would have become a member of the Justice League. I probably would have ended up sinking into a depression so deep I may have even considered… And then I started thinking about what your life would have been like if you had never met me. You would still have your legs. You would still have become a computer expert, you would have…” Katelyn reached up and put a finger on my lips to silence me.

“Let me stop you right there mate. I think you're forgetting some things. First I would never have become the head of Cyber Security at Stark Industries without you, I never would have got my powers, I would never have gained the lead on my parents, but most importantly if I had never met you, Josh O’Neill I would never have met my soulmate. I would be looking forever, and I would never find them.” She said. My cheeks turned as red as Starks armour at that moment. Kate just laughed at me and gave me a kiss.

 

When we eventually came up for air, I finished what I was going to say earlier.

“The biggest thing I realised, however, was that I have never said thank you for all you have done to make me a better person. That’s what this trip is. A thank you.”

“That’s really sweet. And here I’ve been thinking since you have obviously had Tony build you something to stop me getting in your head that you were simply trying to get me in the bed as many times as possible, not that it hasn’t been the fun of course.” She said with a wink.

“No none of that. It was as a thank you and as a chance to ask you a question.” I stood up on the sandbar, so my boardies were out of the water and opened the pocket praying to all the gods of every religion and mythology that ever existed that the box was still dry. I pulled out the tiny blue cube to reveal that it was dry. I then sank back down to my knees and opened the box revealing a beautiful ring with a 2.4 carat white gold band and set with three medium sized stones, two sapphires flanking a clear-cut diamond slightly larger than the sapphires. The gasp that escaped Katelyn’s lips was a clear indication that I had gotten something right.

“Katelyn Sheppard, will you marry me?”

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!!”

I took the ring and slipped it on her finger. That was how far I got before she pounced on me and snogged me senseless. Now I’m really glad I sprung for the extra box because that one will be very soggy if we ever find it.

 

That was when the Cyclopes started to attack. They burst out of the ground, displacing bucket loads of water and forcing Katelyn and me under water. We surfaced and took in air before looking at our would-be attackers.

“Are those cyclopes?” Katelyn said.

“I think so Yeh.”

The five one-eyed monsters that were easily the five inches taller than me charged towards us. I stood up, standing in front of Katelyn and thought about creating a dome construct to protect us. But nothing happened. Ok so I have five cyclopes coming to eat me, my paraplegic girlfriend sitting in the water behind me and no ring. I don’t like my odds. The first cyclops reached me, and I ducked under its roundhouse swing before punching it in the eye. Seemed like a natural weak spot. It worked. The cyclops faulted and fell backwards into the water. Clearly, these things aren’t that bright. The other four halted their charge and eyed me off curiously. That momentary hesitation on their part was all I needed.

“Hey,” I yelled at the top of my lungs, “This looks like a job for…” The monsters charged at me again, all five of them at the same time. I was able to intercept one punch and hit one in the gut while Katelyn grabbed one’s ankle and pulled its leg out from under it. Then the other three were on me. I took one in the jaw and another in the stomach. I heard a scream from behind me and knew Katelyn was in trouble too. Then I heard it. A sonic boom. Music to my ears.

Kara Danvers flew out of the sky in a purple bikini and ripped the cyclops that had Katelyn in its arms head off. The monster dissolved into dust revealing Kara, who caught Katelyn and powered up a blast of heat vision to incinerate the remaining four. Before she could do so however the ocean itself seemed to pull the monsters under water, crushing them and turning them into dust, which then dissolved as if it were never there.

 

Kara simply stood dumbfounded. I rushed over to Katelyn and took her from Kara before lowering her back into the water. Kara moved over to the spot the Cyclopes had been standing a few seconds ago using her x-ray vision to see if there was anything underground, but she found nothing.

“Thanks. I knew Bruce wouldn’t let us be out here without some sort of super powered protection.” I told Kara.

“Hey, I wasn’t going to complain. Stark basically came up to me and said “I need you to holiday on a beautiful beach in Malibu to make sure nothing happens to Josh and Katelyn on their trip. Don’t worry I’ll pay for everything.” And just so you know you should be grateful he did otherwise you’d be dead.” She explained. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Kara flew back to her own beach house and Katelyn, and I celebrated our successful engagement with champagne and something I can’t mention without making this a M+ rated story. When we got back to New York City Batman practically forbid me from going anywhere without my ring ever again. He’s not the boss of me. Stark made a comment that had both Katelyn and I blushing red, and the rest of the team congratulated us. All in all, the holiday was an incredible success.

 

* * *

 

**The Council of the Gods, Mount Olympus**

**Another Dimension**

**June 28 th, 2025**

 

“Are you kidding me!” Poseidon yelled as he barged into the throne room of Mount Olympus.

Zeus stood up from his throne and advanced to meet his older brother in the centre of the room. The two met and practically squared off right there.

“You attacked the human. You tried to kill him, even after the council decided against it.”

“You have no proof of any foul play on my behalf Poseidon,” Zeus said.

The Sea God was fuming. That was when Aphrodite walked into the room.

“Zeus, do you care to explain why Katelyn Sheppard and Josh O’Neill were attacked by a group of Cyclopes? And before I say anything I am going to remind you that the poor girl is paralysed and could not have gotten away from the battlefield even if she wanted to. Not to mention Josh was proposing at the time the Cyclopes attacked. You better have a good explanation or the next time you go chasing a nymph or a human you will bump into a nasty surprise.”

  
Zeus wisely said nothing in response. He was technically innocent but if he opened his mouth either Poseidon or Aphrodite could bring up the matter at the approaching Council meeting at the Summer Solstice. So, he teleported himself away, leaving Poseidon and Aphrodite in the throne room alone.

“I have to speak with Percy,” Poseidon said before storming out of Olympus. Aphrodite merely sighed before following the enraged god out of the room

 

 


	9. Why is Greek Mythology Trying to Kill Us?

_Justice League: Gold Vol 3 (#15) Heroes vs Gods - Part 2_

 

> “I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy. I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.”
> 
> – Percy Jackson

# Why is Greek Mythology Trying to Kill Us?

**3:30 pm, July 30 th, 2025**

**Philadelphia, Pennsylvania**

_(See SHAZAM! Vol 1 New 52 for Billy Batson’s origin story.)_

 

“SHAZAM!!”

Billy yelled. A lightning bolt arched out of the sky hitting him and triggering his transformation into his alter ego. He flew up into the air and charged straight at the giant monster currently thrashing its way through the city. It had been a month since Billy Batson had been pulled out of his life by a dying wizard and transformed into the Champion of Magic, and his life had not gotten any simpler. Now he was hovering in front of what could best be described as a creature the size of a three-story building with a dinosaur-like a body with 5 scaley snakeheads.

“Um… I accept your surrender?” Billy shouted. In response, the creature simply lunged with one of its heads and Billy only just managed to avoid becoming the things lunch.

“Ok, so I guess you’re not going to come quietly then.”

Billy launched a bolt of electricity at one of the creature’s heads, disintegrating it, he then flew down and picked it up by the stump of the head and threw it into an abandoned construction site. His first priority was to get the monster out of the city. He could figure out how to kill it once the civilian population was out of danger. The creature stood up again and let out an earth shattering roar from each of its six heads. Wait, one two three four five six. Six heads. Didn’t it have five heads, then he cut one off making it four? Billy knew full well that he was only in the 9th grade, but he was pretty sure five minus one didn’t equal six. Shazam flew down and punched another head with super strength caving in its skull and causing the long snake like stump to fall to the ground. Then he watched horrified as two new heads grew from the remains of the head he just destroyed.

Ok. Well, that’s not normal.

 

 

* * *

 

**The Daily Planet, Metropolis**

**3:40 pm, July 30 th, 2025**

 

Clark Kent stood next to his wife Lois Lane-Kent and best friend Jimmy Olsen watching one of the many TV’s in the Daily Planet.

“This is reporter Lana Lang for the Daily Planet, and I am here in Philadelphia where what looks like a Tyrannosaurus Rex is trashing the city. Philadelphia’s resident hero Shazam is trying to force the creature out of the city, but clearly, he is outmatched…” Clark was incredibly confused. Whatever that was on the TV wasn’t a T-Rex. Clark had been keeping tabs on the new hero since he became active a month ago and was impressed by the newbie’s skill, but he clearly had a way to go still, and this clearly wasn’t something a newbie should handle on his own. Clark slowly backed out of the room and made his way to the fire escape.

 

* * *

 

**Midvale, Metropolis**

**3:42 pm, July 30 th, 2025**

 

Kara was walking home from school with a physics textbook in her hand. She was in 12th Grade now and was well on her way to becoming a reporter like her cousin. Clark had spent a lot of his time teaching her about what he did, and she really enjoyed it. Kara suddenly felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. Speak of the devil.

“Hey, Clark.”

“Hey, Kara I was wondering if you were in the mood to beat up some monsters?”

“Aren’t I always?”

 

* * *

 

**Stark Tower, New York City**

**3:43pm**

 

“Hey Bruce, get down here I think I’ve found something for the green guy to hit.” Tony Stark yelled. A few minutes later Bruce Banner walked out of Stark’s private lab holding a Stark-Pad.

“I think I’ve come up with every contingency for this Veronica Program Tony,” Bruce told him.

“Yeh, we’ll talk about it later. Right now you need to go change into those Hulk-proof pants I made you, there’s a T-Rex in Phili, and I plan on getting there before the Boy-scout.”

 

I chose that moment to walk into the room, Katelyn rolling behind me.

“Ah brilliant, everyone’s here. To the jet!” Stark yelled.

“What?” I asked.

“I have no idea. Something about a T-Rex.” Bruce said before following Stark to the hanger bay one floor down.

“I’m going to go to my control room. Don’t die out there.” Katelyn said before wheeling off. I sighed and followed Banner down to the Jet.

 

* * *

  **Philadelphia, Pennsylvania**

**3:45pm**

 

Billy had been fighting the monster for 15 minutes now with no end in sight. Every time he tried to kill it the thing just grew another two heads. The creature was now supporting twelve heads in total. Billy had no idea what to do. He had successfully forced it out of the heart of the city and onto the tarmac of the Airport which itself bordered the Delaware River. The thing couldn’t hurt any more civilians. That was a start at least.

 

Billy had never been happier when he heard the twin sonic booms. He turned around and saw Superman and Supergirl shooting out of the sky, bolting down and impacting the monster causing it to fall unceremoniously to the ground. Both Super’s then began to power up their heat vision.

“No! Stop you’ll…” The Kryptonians released their heat vision. Each taking out a head. Then four more grew back from the stumps.

 

Shazam landed next to the two Leaguers.

“Don’t aim for the heads. Every time you take one out two more grow back, and the shell covering its body is too hard for me to punch through.” He said.

Kara was starting to realise why this new hero was having such a hard time taking the creature out. According to Clark, he had been fighting it for almost 20 minutes, Kara was quickly gaining respect for this newbie.

_“Oracle to Justice League, Oracle to Justice League. Superman, Supergirl can you hear me?”_

Kara raised her hand to her ear and activated her com.

“We hear you loud and clear Oracle.” She said.

 _“The rest of the League are two minutes away from you in the jet. And Flash is...”_ A bolt of lightning collided with the monster sending it flying into the river _“standing right next to you.”_

Shazam, Superman, Supergirl and Flash turned around to see Dragon, Batman, Iron Man and Banner run out of Stark’s Jet, which then took off and flew away thanks to Jarvis.

“Dr Banner no offence but I think we might need the other guy,” Barry said.

“Ok, what do we know about this thing?” Batman asked.

“I think it’s pretty obvious Bats. It’s a fucking T-Rex!” Stark said.

“No, it's not.” Superman, Supergirl, Shazam, Dragon and Batman all said in sync.

“Ignoring the fact that you all just said something at the same time, which is kind of creepy, how can you not see a T-Rex? Have you all gone blind or something?” Iron Man said.

“No, I haven’t gone blind. That clearly isn’t a dinosaur. It has 14 snake heads for crying out loud.” I said. What the hell is wrong with Stark?

“I can see a T-Rex,” Barry said.

“So can I.” Banner advised.

 

Everyone stood silent for a second.

“Ok if half of us can see one thing but the other half see something completely different how are we supposed to know what’s real,” Kara asked.

 _“Dragon, take the ring off,”_ _Oracle said_.

“What?”

“Do it,” Batman said, picking up on the idea.

I sighed and pulled the Ring off my Finger. My suit melted away and the Hydra disappeared, replaced by a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

“Woh. I can see the Dinosaur.” I said.

_“Then the other thing is the real one,” Oracle said._

“She’s right,” I said putting the Ring back on my finger.

“Ok, so the monster is the real version. We’ll deal with why some of us can’t see it later. What do we know about it?” Batman said.

“Don’t cut off its heads. Every time you do, two more grow back. Its body is also practically impenetrable. I haven’t been able to make a dent in it, and I have super strength.” Shazam explained.

“Ok here’s the plan of action Flash, keep the ground clear, Iron Man you’ve got the perimeter. Heavy hitters combine strength and make a dent in that armour. Dragon, Shazam and I will keep those heads distracted. Let’s move.” The team broke up and moved to follow Batman’s orders.

“This is so awesome I’m fighting alongside the Justice League,” Shazam said.

“Don’t get cocky,” I told him. Then I dived down and wedged three constructs in some of the mouths. Shazam followed by using his lightning to electrocute five more while Batman grappled two together and began jumping from neck to neck.

Meanwhile, Banner had transformed into the Hulk and was now smashing the shit out of the creatures hide, the Supers were using their heat vision to bore into where logic dictated the things stomach should be.

_“Justice League I’ve got some intel. The description you gave me correlates with a creature from Greek Mythology called a Hydra.”_

Oracle’s Intel dump was interrupted by a missile flying down from overhead and impacting one of the heads causing it to explode and grow two more.

“Iron Man keep the sky’s clear,” Batman yelled.

“It’s S.H.I.E.L.D.! Sons of bitches have some sort of cloaking tech that’s stopping me from detecting them!” Tony yelled the guy was clearly pissed. Probably because someone had figured out how to fool his tech.

I looked up to see another plane decloak and fire two more missiles. One missed entirely, but the other struck the head Batman was standing on. The explosion threw Batman at high velocity towards the ground, and I wasn’t in a position to help him.

“I’ve got him!” Kara yelled. She bolted for the caped crusader. She would have caught him too if the ground hadn’t opened up and swallowed them both.

“Batman and Supergirl are M.I.A,” I yelled before throwing up a shield construct to stop any more aerial attacks.

 

* * *

**Oracle’s Base of Operations, The Justice League Control Room, Stark Tower, New York City.**

 

Katelyn saw Batman and Supergirl get swallowed by the ground from the ‘Dragon Cam’ – live feed from the Dragons glasses – and Iron Man’s heads-up display. Her chair was locked into the revolving floor piece that Stark had added into the control room for her. Her ‘control station’ was surrounded by screens and keyboards. On one terminal she had live audio being beamed straight to her from each individual members com unit, which was then compiled into one united audio feed. She had screens monitoring the Iron Man Suit, The Dragon Suit, Flash’s Suit (Katelyn and Stark had seriously upgraded it since his original version) and Superman and Supergirl’s armour (She didn’t have the Bat-suit because Bruce refused and no Hulk suit because there is no Hulk suit).

She had Jarvis running a search for anything related to the Hydra from Greek Mythology on another screen. Screens displaying views from street camera’s and her own personal ‘hacking screen’, all surrounding her large circular control console.

 

“Miss Sheppard I have detected five heavily armed S.H.I.E.L.D. Vehicles on route to the team’s location. Estimated time of arrival is 7 minutes.” Jarvis told her.

Katelyn took a deep breath and paused for a second. Without Batman, the team had no leader. She needed to step up before this all went pear shaped.

“Ok. Flash there are five S.H.I.E.L.D. trucks heading towards the airport. You need to stop them before they get there. Head down the main road out of the airport you should see them.” She said.

 _“Copy that Oracle,”_ Barry said.

“Tony you have to keep those Quinjets out of the battlefield so the Dragon can help Hulk, Shazam and Superman.”

_“I’ve figured something out. Jarvis can track the ships once they decloak once but I can’t tell how many may be up there still invisible to my sensors.”_

“Ok.”

“Superman, how many heads are there now?”

_“I count sixteen. Any idea what happened to Supergirl and Batman?”_

“Not yet. One problem at a time. Dragon, drop the shield. Superman, Shazam and Hulk need someone to keep the heads occupied while they target the body.”

_“I’m on it.”_

“Superman is Hulk making a dent?”

_“No. The thing seems to be as invulnerable as I am.”_

“Miss Sheppard I think I have something you might find interesting,” Jarvis said. Katelyn spun her chair around using the floor control remote and looked at Jarvis’s findings.

 

* * *

**Philadelphia Airport, Pennsylvania**

 

 _“Guy’s I’ve got a plan,_ ” Oracle said through everyone’s com units.

“Let’s hear it. I can’t hold this construct much longer.” I said. I was currently floating above the Hydra trying to maintain blindfolds around each head.

 _“Ok everyone listen very carefully, we’re only going to get one shot at this, and if we get it wrong, we’re just going to make everything worse.”_ Katelyn relayed her plan to the heroes and Superman told Shazam.

 

“Is everyone in position?” I yelled.

“Yep,”

“Let’s do this.”

“Smash!!”

“Ok. Ready! NOW!!” I created twelve construct swords and sliced twelve heads off simultaneously while Hulk jumped up and grabbed four heads and smashed them together, crumpling all of them. There were now no active heads on the entire creature.

_“Now!!” Oracle yelled._

“SHAZAM!!!” Shazam summoned ten lightning bolts and used them to fry ten of the stumps while Superman used his Heat Vision and his Superspeed to incinerate the final six.

All sixteen necks fell to the ground.

“Now Hulk!” I screamed.

Hulk grabbed one of the necks and used every ounce of his strength to swing the creature around his head before launching it up into the air.

_“Iron Man, it’s all up to you.”_

Stark fired all of his remaining missiles at the T-Rex’s body, which succeeded in turning the monster into golden dust.

 

Stark landed on the ground and stood next to the rest of the League. A few seconds later Flash speeded up and reported his success.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. has been successfully delayed. Nice job taking out the Hydra. Do we have any news on Batman and Supergirl?”

“None. I X-Rayed the ground and found nothing. No underground passages, no sewers of any kind. But we won, and that’s a start.” Superman said.

Hulk let out a massive roar in agreement. He then shrunk back down to Banner.

 _“Guys satellite feed has heaps of vehicles headed your way; the army, S.H.I.E.L.D., media outlets, the works. You guys should get out of there while you have the chance. You can’t do anything for Bruce and Kara if you get taken in by S.H.I.E.L.D. Bring Shazam to.”_ Katelyn said.

“Come on guys. Let’s get out of here.” Superman said. With that, the entire League plus Shazam followed the Man of Steel back to Stark’s Jet.

 

* * *

**Location: Unknown**

**Time: N/A**

 

Everything was pitch black. As soon as the roof closed above them, the light was cut out. Batman, prepared for any occasion, took out a bat-light, as he called it. He shone it around the room and noticed he wasn’t alone; Supergirl was in the darkness with him. When she noticed that she wasn’t alone she let out a visible sigh of relief and asked him, “Toss one of those things over here, it’ll help with the light problem.”

As Batman threw one, he got another out for himself and got his first good look at the room. It was ancient. The room was full of old vases and odd pillars keeping the room from caving in.

“We should move to a more secure area, this place looks like it could cave in at any time,” Bruce said, pulling off his mask so he could breath easier.

Kara walked into the only tunnel that wasn’t about to collapse and walked straight out again, horror showing on her face. “That room is full of corpses.”

“Then let’s take another passage,” Bruce said visibly disgusted.

“What do you suppose happened to us, I didn’t think there was anything but sewers under the city. This place is ancient.” Kara said

Bruce who had been thinking the same thing replied darkly, “Let’s just hope that the hydra didn’t come from here or we could be facing a lot worse.”

“Worse than that? Well, that is one reason we have to get out of here.”

“Wherever ‘here’ is?” Batman said gloomily, already annoyed with Kara talking to him so much.

 

“What about the team? Do you think they will find us, or maybe they’re just in a different area? The logical thing to do is figure out a way out.”

“I agree, the best thing we can do is to find an area that won’t collapse easily and get you to punch it. That’s what I’ve been looking for.” Bruce said.

In contrary to what they thought would continue as zigzags and ruins they walked into a modern-day cement crossroad. As they walked into the middle of the room, Bruce turned around to count all the doors they were faced with and found he couldn’t remember which one they had come through. Deciding here was as good as anywhere and maybe the most secure structure in the maze.

“Kara punch the roof as hard as you can. It might get us out of here.”

She flew up to the roof and started pounding it with her fists, using her momentum to gain more power. The roof shuddered but didn’t break and as she kept punching there was a roaring.

“Get down, stop punching, we’ll draw the monster that lives here to us!” Shouted Bruce, getting an inkling of what this place was.

Before Kara could hit the floor, the Minotaur came charging in.

“Minotaur!” Bruce and Kara shouted in unison.

Expecting the metal Batarang to simply cut off its head with its finely honed edge Batman threw it. Normally, this would have been wise to do with most predatory animals, but Batman did not know that normal weapons can’t kill monsters. They have built up an immunity as they have been hunted by humans for thousands of years. As the Batarang came back, Bruce expected it to be stained with the Minotaur’s blood and to watch the monster fall. He was sorely disappointed. As he backed up, he realised what he was stepping on was not sand but dust from the previous victim’s bones. The Minotaur was advancing now sensing that its victim was defeated. Then Supergirl flew in dusting him with freeze-breath to slow him down and punching him in the gut. As she zipped around him distracting him from his prey, he could sense that it just wanted an easy lunch and was about to lose its temper.

As Kara got ready to melt the Minotaur with her heat vision the beast threw an angry punch. That punch by pure luck hit her one blind spot knocking her out cold. As the Minotaur advanced on Kara now, Batman felt through the sand looking for some type of weapon and his hand chanced on something more valuable than all of his fortune in that moment. With only one second to aim, he threw the bronze knife he found in the dirt. He had no hope that it would kill the monster, he just wanted a distraction. And as the dagger pierced the Minotaur’s skull the giant black haired brute dissolved into dust. 

As he helped a still dazed Supergirl, he retrieved the dagger from the pile of golden dust that had replaced the Minotaur.

“I know where we are,” Bruce said to Kara as soon as she was conscious enough to understand. “I used to love the Greek Myths as a child and had always wished I could meet one of the heroes and battle the monsters. I thought it was just a far-fetched dream. I never realised it could become a reality.” Bruce said absently, getting off topic for the first time in Kara’s memory.

“Bruce, back to the point, you said you knew where we are, do you?”

“I think we’re in the Labyrinth.”

“The labyrinth, the one Daedalus created?”

“You’re from another planet, how would you know about Greek mythology?”

“When I got here I sought to know everything about human history thinking I could learn how to act from history.” Said Kara blushing.

“Somehow we fell into this Labyrinth, and we are going to have some serious trouble if we don’t get moving because whatever else is down here probably heard our fight with the Minotaur and is headed this way.

“Your right, I’m ready now, onwards to danger and a way out. Which door do we take?”

“I say we go through the middle as it is the lightest, tallest and widest.”

“Okay,” Kara replied.

As if sensing that they wanted an easy time, the tunnel they chose made them have to walk sideways to fit, crawl and got so dark that they had to relight their Bat-lights.

Eventually, they found themselves at another crossroads, standing in front of them was a dark skinned black haired woman wearing bikers leather from head to toe.

“Hello, questers. Sorry about this but Zeus has decreed that you are to be ended. I am Nemesis the Goddess of Revenge. As compensation for your unfortunate demise, you can decide in what manner you wish to die if you like.” She said, undead warriors rising out of the ground beside her.

“Sorry but we are totally confused and lost, we’re not quester’s, whatever they are, the Earth just opened up and swallowed us, and we are trying to find our way out so we can help out our friends. So do you mind not smiting us, plus if you do try you’ll find out we are not easy opponents to take down.” Kara said, adding the last part in a growl and powering up her heat vision for extra effect.

‘Nemesis’ sat studying the two of them temporarily before sighing.

“I am going to be in so much trouble for this but the way I see it. Neither of you has done anything to Zeus that warrants an act of Revenge so I will let you go. As compensation, I can tell you how to get out, but there will be a condition.” Nemesis replied with a smirk.

“Name it,” Kara said, her voice jumping with hope.

“I will ask you to do a favour for me when the time comes. So do we have a deal?” Nemesis said eyes shining.

“Deal,” Supergirl said before Batman could stop her.

“My advice for you Supergirl is to follow Batman. Batman, I suggest you embrace your ability to see through the Mist. It is a very rare gift among mortals. I encourage you to try to imagine a way out, if that fails you then have fun and hope a Demigod finds you and pulls you out. Farewell.” Nemesis said before dissolving into smoke.

 

The two heroes walked away as fast as they could.

“Well do what she said, try imagining a way out,” Kara said.

“Kara you shouldn’t be so trusting.”

“You shouldn’t be so…”

“Shh,” Batman looked carefully around the next bend and threw his newfound celestial bronze dagger at a massive dog that fitted the description of a similar creature the Dragon had fought previously. They had found out that other than Kara’s heat vision and strength that it was the only thing that could kill the monsters in this god forsaken place.

“We can’t stay in here we’ll be dead in a matter of hours. Try to envision a way out.” Kara said.

Batman closed his eyes and concentrated and then pointed to a tunnel. “It’s the only one without triggers to summon monsters.” He explained.

“How the hell..”

“I don’t know just trust me.”

They continued this way for at least another hour before they came to a door in the ceiling that was the only thing remotely close to a way out that they had found yet. Kara flew Batman up to the roof, and they found themselves in the middle of a large rock pile. When they finally dug themselves out and got a breath of fresh air they realised it was the middle of the night.

“It felt like only a few hours, and we were fighting the hydra at like mid-afternoon. I guess we spent longer in there than we thought. Time flies when you’re in danger.” Kara said trying to find logic in the strange time.

“Let’s figure out where we are.” And with that, both took out their phones and found out they had no reception. Suddenly Bruce took a satellite phone from his utility belt and called Alfred, his butler, signalling him to come and get them immediately. “Only Batman would think to have a Sat phone,” Kara said cheekily.

“Shut up,” Bruce said not even turning around.

As soon as Bruce’s personal jet got there, they hopped on board, and Kara got a surprise to see Alfred driving the plane. The first thing he said was “Where have you been sir? You have been missing for four days. The entire Justice League had been scouring the globe for you.”

“What” Both Batman and Supergirl exclaimed in surprise and fear for what they had missed. Alfred filled them in on everything that had happened since they disappeared.

When they got back to the Bat Cave, they sent out a signal calling the whole League to them.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sister (who's more of a Percy Jackson nerd than I am) wrote the second half of this chapter so credit to her where credit is due. Thanks to all of you for sticking with this story so far. Next chapter will see Batman working with Stark and Banner to discover the secrets of the knife Batman and Supergirl found in the Labyrinth. Review's and criticisms are widely appreciated.


	10. Lessons Learned

Justice League Vol 3 (#16) Heroes vs Gods - Part 3

> “Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.”
> 
> – Tony Stark

# Lessons Learned

**The Bat-Cave, Gotham City**

**4:00 am, 3 rd August 2025**

 

“Is that a real dinosaur?” Kara asked.

“No.” Was the only reply she got.

“What about the giant penny? Where does that come from?”

“Don’t ask.”

“Are you going to tell me anything?”

“No.”

“Do you think that’s going to stop me asking?”

“No.”

“Then why don’t you just tell me?”

“No.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“No.”

Suddenly the house entry elevator opened and Tim Drake (AKA Red Robin), Dick Grayson (AKA Nightwing) and Barbara Gordon (AKA Batgirl) ran down into the cave and stopped short in front of Supergirl who was herself standing behind Batman who was sitting in the chair in front of the Bat Computer.

“Where the hell have you been?” Barbara practically screamed, “You disappear and what happens. Two-Face almost shuts down an entire district that’s what. It took all three of us to take him out.”

“In my defence, I was trapped in an underground labyrinth for 4 days and then transported to the middle of the Australian Outback,” Bruce said.

“As far as excuses go, it’s not terrible, but I’ve heard better.” Tony’s voice could be heard from the back of the cave. Everyone turned around to see the Justice League standing in the centre of the large hanger.

“This is an incredibly cool secret hideout,” Shazam said.

“What’s he doing here?” Batman asked pointing at Shazam.

“He’s been helping us while you’ve been ‘away’” Flash said.

Kara broke rank and towards Clark and gave him a hug.

“Hey everyone why don’t we all sit down and fill each other in on what’s been going on?” Katelyn said as she rolled herself forward up the ramp and towards the mansion elevator.

 

**30minutes later**

 

“So that’s the story,” Kara concluded, “Any questions?”

“Just one. You expect us to believe that?” Stark asked.

“Yes. Now I’ve been thinking, and numerous things are starting to fall into place. Most of our exploits of late have centred around Greek mythology. Josh and Katelyn were attacked by cyclopes that you guys said turned into a ‘golden dust’, then we fight a Hydra that once you finally killed it, turned into a similar dust like substance. Then we get trapped in the Labyrinth which is straight out of Greek Mythos, and we are attacked by numerous other creatures that all turned into dust when we killed them. The problem we all seem to be facing is that these things, whatever they are, are all extremely difficult to kill by ordinary means. By all rights, a Batarang to the neck should kill anyone, but they just bounced off every creature we came up against. Every time I punched one of the creatures it was like it didn’t even feel it.” Batman said.

“Not to mention how only some of us can see the things,” I said.

“I’ve been thinking about that too, and I still can't find a pattern.”

“What about the knife?” Kara said.

“That’s the most interesting part of all,” Bruce placed the knife that he recovered in the Labyrinth on the table, “I’ve tried scanning it with every gadget I have, but I can’t figure out what it’s made of. I was hoping you could use some of your tech to help with that Stark.”

“Not a problem.” Tony reached over and grabbed the knife.

“We need to figure this out. We need to know why all of a sudden these creatures are coming out of the woodwork and where they’re coming from. We need to know why only some of us can see these things and why only some of us can hurt them. If it’s alright with everyone here can I get a blood sample from you all before you leave? That way Stark and I can use them to see if there are any chemical or biological properties related to this.” Bruce said, slamming his hand on the desk. Barbara knew Bruce very well, and she could tell he was angry. He very rarely lets his emotions show. Barbara almost felt sorry for the people behind this. Almost.

 

 

* * *

**Stark Tower, New York City**

**August 3 rd 2025, 2:00pm**

 

“Tony I found it!” Banner yelled. Stark and Wayne ran over to the genius and looked at the screen in front of him.

“Look there, a protein present in Barry’s, yours and my blood but not present in Clark’s, Kara’s and Billy’s, then there’s a mutated version of the protein in Josh’s, Katelyn’s and your’s Bruce.” Banner explained.

“Well, that makes sense I suppose,” Tony said.

“How?” Bruce asked.

“Think about it. This protein isn’t present in the alien Boy Scout and his little cousin because they’re aliens. Batson says his powers come from a magic wizard, which I don’t believe for a second by the way, which probably cancels this protein out. It’s in our DNA Banner because for all intents and purposes we’re human, well until you turn all big and green which cancels it out. Katelyn’s is mutated because of her exposure to the Particle Accelerator Explosion, which does raise questions of why Speedy’s protein remains unaltered.”

“Stark focus,” Batman said.

“I am focused okay don’t get your Bat panties in a twist.”

“Tony,” Banner pleaded.

“Fine. Well, I assume Josh’s mutation is from constant exposure to the energy given off by the Ring and Bruce’s mutation is probably completely natural in nature. Quite remarkable actually.”

“So what does this protein do exactly doctor?” Batman asked Banner.

“It’s not exactly clear. It looks like it floats in the bloodstream and just sits there.”

“Why would it do that… Give me the knife.” Stark said turning to the Dark Knight.

Bruce pulled the knife out of his pocket and handed it to Stark. Tony then held the knife close to the blood sample Banner was examining. As soon as it got within ten centimetres, the proteins in the sample suddenly became active, moving incredibly fast in the direction of the knife.

“No way.” Banner said before moving to the computer and typing in his observations.

“What just happened?” Bruce asked.

“It’s a defence mechanism,” Stark explained, “that knife must have a certain magnetic resonance or radiation signature that the protein is keyed into. The proteins then gather as close to the source as they can to defend the body against this type of metal. I’d be willing to wager that these creatures give off a similar form of radiation and that there are a lot of these proteins attached to the nerve centres in our brain, that’s what stops the majority of people from seeing these things. What do you think Banner?”

“I think you're definitely on the right train of thought. Now if we can isolate the radiation being given off by that knife…”

“and we’re right in assuming these creatures give off a similar radiation, we can pinpoint the location of these creatures and find out where they might be coming from,” Stark concluded. Tony then ran over to a scanner and began an in-depth spectrographic analysis of the knife.

‘I’ve got you now.’ Bruce thought as he watched the two geniuses at work.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the short chapter. It just didn't fit with the previous or the next one.


	11. A Divine Abduction

Legend Comics Vol 3 (#16) Heroes vs Gods - Part 4

> _"Piper rushed to get dressed. By the time she got up on deck, the others had already gathered—all hastily dressed.  
>  Frank’s Vancouver Winter Olympics shirt was inside out. Percy wore pajama pants and a bronze breastplate, which was an interesting fashion statement. Hazel’s hair was all blown to one side as though she’d walked through a cyclone; and Leo had accidentally set himself on fire. His T-shirt was in charred tatters. His arms were smoking.” _
> 
> – Rick Riordan (Piper P.O.V.) The Mark of Athena

 

#  A Divine Abduction

**Long Beach, California**

**August 3 rd, 2025, 6:30 pm Sunset**

 

Percy Jackson was hanging out with his friend Piper Mclean on Long Beach. The two were the only ones on their team that knew how to surf. Piper because she was brought up on the California Coast and Percy because he was a son of Poseidon. Annabeth was monitoring a project at Stark Industries Headquarters in Los Angeles, so Percy and Piper had decided to take a break from their responsibilities at Camp for a little holiday. The two were now sitting on their rather high-quality surfboards (thank you Poseidon) about 100metres off the coast waiting for the next wave as the sun set over the ocean behind them.

“This one’s mine,” Percy shouted as he began paddling for the forming six-metre wave. He may have been manipulating the water currents to form the best conditions, but he wasn’t going to tell Piper that. Percy dropped over the crest and crouched as he entered the barrel. Once inside the barrel, Percy suddenly got a very bad feeling. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, and he could smell the ozone in the air.

“No, no, no. Don’t you dare!!!” He yelled in a vain attempt to ward off what was about to happen. Unfortunately for Percy he never made it to the end of the barrel.

 

Once the wave crashed over, Piper began looking for her friend assuming from his yelling that he had wiped out. Upon finding nothing, she started to worry. Percy couldn’t drown, being a son of Poseidon and all, so why had he yet to surface?

What happened next was even stranger. The water around her began floating in the air. Then she began floating herself! Piper grabbed her board and held on for dear life. Then a flash of golden light enveloped her, and she disappeared.

 

* * *

**Stark Industries Headquarters, Los Angeles**

**6:30pm**

 

Annabeth Jackson was sitting behind her desk frowning down at her Stark-Pad. The employee in front her had been in charge of overseeing the construction of a new wing of offices for the Headquarters and had accidentally had the builders build the wing slightly offline with the rest of the building. It wasn’t a big misalignment, just 3cm but now none of the doors, windows or roof panels were lining up, and Annabeth had to deal with it. She really didn’t want to fire the man, he was a good guy, he really was, he just made a tiny mistake. Annabeth could relate to that.

“Ok, John. You can relax because I’m not going to fire you. You have done way too many successful projects previously for this company that one tiny mistake isn’t that much of an issue, but I am going to need you to fix the problem, and I am going to need you to do it without going over budget.” Annabeth told him.

“Thank you, Mrs Jackson. I can definitely manage that.”

“Ok well that’s that taken care off then, you can leave Mr Stewart.”

John Stewart stood up and left the room. Annabeth glanced at the clock on her desk and sighed. 6:30 pm. Time to go meet Percy and Piper.

Annabeth stood up and brushed off her pencil skirt and blouse before picking up her phone to text Percy she was on the way to the beach to pick him and Piper up. The three of them would be going to a bar to have some drinks once the two beach lovers were suitably dressed. She began walking to the door of her office then suddenly stopped. She recognised that smell. Ozone. Annabeth threw her phone as far away from her as possible and held her breath, preparing for the teleportation that was sure to follow. A bright light erupted around her, and she disappeared from the office.

 

* * *

**Camp Jupiter – Top-secret training centre of the Roman Demigods**

**Oakland, California.**

**6:30pm**

 

Jason Grace, Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang were standing in front of Jason’s latest masterpiece. As Pontifex of both demigod Camps, it was his job to make sure that all the Gods in the Greek and Roman pantheons major or minor received the respect they deserved. The construction of the Temple of Neptune on Temple Hill had just been completed. It was a shining white marble with shells encrusted within it. The inside had a beautiful mosaic roof designed by Annabeth and a large fish tank that both Percy and Tyson had insisted on.

“Wow, Jason. You really went full out on this one.” Hazel said.

“Well, Neptune was the only major god that didn’t have a decent Temple on the hill. You told me what Percy looked like when he was here without his memories and that hovel was all that was here,” Jason told her.

“Well as a descendent of Poseidon or Neptune or whichever, I always get confused by the multiple personalities, I am incredibly proud and honoured to stand here,” Frank said.

The trio was about to walk away when Hazel spoke up.

“Hey, do you guys smell that?”

“Yeh, it smells like electricity mixed with burning rubber,” Frank said.

“Everybody hold your breath!” Jason yelled, and the three were transported away from the Camp.

 

* * *

**Camp Half-Blood, Long Island, New York**

**6:35pm**

 

Leo Valdez was standing in Bunker 9 looking over the final construction of the Argo 4. After the destruction of the Argo 2 and the War with Gaia over ten ago years Leo had convinced Chiron that building a fleet of similar ships would make it much easier to find Demigods located all around the world. Five ships had been built, with the Argo 3 as the flagship per Leo’s insistence. Percy had wanted to call it the Enterprise but Annabeth had quickly shut that down. However, in the end, one of the ships was named the Enterprise, and Leo even designed it so that the ship had exterior nacelles. Now all he needed to do was convince Chiron that building a docking base for the ships in the Mediterranean called Deep Space Nine was a good idea. He didn’t like his odds.

The Argo 3 had been destroyed shortly after the Darkseid Invasion by a rogue Titan. The Argo 4 had taken a lot longer to get built than Leo would have liked, but he hadn’t had the manpower due to the surge in monster attacks. Annabeth had reasoned a large number of monsters had escaped through those portals that the giant ugly evil dude had used to bring his army of aliens to Earth in the first place.

Now that the attacks had died down. He could finally get his newest flagship off the assembly line. Leo was just about to head up to the deck when an Apollo kid ran up behind him.

“Leo, Chiron needs you at the Big House. Reyna just Iris Messaged through, Jason, Hazel and Frank just got abducted.”

“What!”

“I don’t know the details just come on,” The kid said. Suddenly the air turned incredibly static, and all the hairs on Leo’s head stood on end. That can’t be good, was Leo’s last thought before he was enveloped in golden light.

 

* * *

**The Underworld, Another Dimension**

 

“Well we could add better shielding to the Fields of Punishment,” Nico said in answer to his father’s question, “according to this, there were over 3,300 escapes last year.”

“I’ll admit those aren’t incredibly good numbers, but, there far better than last year’s.” Hades pointed out.

“I’ll admit three thousand is a lot better than five.” Nico conceded.

Suddenly there was a crackling in the air.

“Zeus don’t you dare!!” Hades yelled mere seconds before Nico was teleported away.

The God of the Underworld scowled before storming out of his palace. Hades had by no means forgotten how his siblings had shut him out for thousands of years but since that Jackson kid had gotten him a seat on Olympus he had much better relations with his brother Poseidon. If Zeus abducted his son, Hades would bet Mount Olympus that Nico’s friends were already on Olympus. Zeus was making a move, and Hades was not going to get caught unprepared.

 

* * *

**Stark Tower, New York City**

**6:40pm**

 

“Sir, you might want to see this,” Jarvis said over the loudspeaker. Tony Stark looked up from the repulsor he was modifying to emit the energy frequency that would allow them to hurt the strange creatures the Justice League were currently up against.

“What is it, Jarvis?”

“You have to see it believe it, sir,” Jarvis placed a security recording on a screen beside Stark, “This security footage is from the personal office of Annabeth Jackson, Head Architectural Design for Stark Industries at Headquarters.”

The video showed Annabeth get up from her desk and walk into the middle of the room. She then looked around confused before throwing her phone across the room. A bright golden light filled the view screen then faded. Annabeth was now missing from the video.

“Jarvis, did she just get beamed out of the office, like Star Trek style.”

“Unknown.”

“Wayne, Banner get over here quick,” Stark yelled.

The two Leaguers ran up behind him and watched as Jarvis replayed the video.

“Sir the radiation detectors in the walls of the room are struggling to isolate the large emission of unidentified particles released by the ‘teleportation’,” Jarvis said.

“Those detectors are state of the art. I designed them. How could they be struggling to identify what type of energy was in that teleport beam, unless… Jarvis factor in the new form of radiation found on the knife.” Stark told the U.I.

“87% Match.”

 

Everyone was silent.

 

“So these monsters just kidnapped this woman, why?” Banner asked.

“I’m not so sure that’s what happened here,” Batman said, going into full Detective mode.

“What do you mean?”

“Look at her body language,” Bruce said rewinding the video, “See there, she’s looking around as if she’s noticed something strange. Then she turns and throws her phone as far away from her as she can. Not something you would do if you were being abducted. Then if you look closely, you can see her take a deep breath then flash of light, and she’s gone. I think she sensed something was off then she’s realised what it is, thrown her phone across the room because she knows the device will get fried by the teleport and holds her breath preparing for it. This woman has had this happen to her before. We need to know if anyone else was taken in a similar manner in the past few minutes.” Bruce examined. Even Stark, who always tries to avoid looking impressed by anything, look impressed by the Dark Knights skills of deduction.

“The global radiation map is still a while away from synthesising. But I can certainly trace that large an emission now that we know the frequency. Jarvis.”

“Four signals picked up across the United States in the last ten minutes. Displaying now.”

 

Stark, Banner and Wayne all looked at the new screen. Two spikes off the Los Angeles Coast, one in Stark Industries Headquarters and one weaker spike in Oakland near San Francisco.

 

“Ok the signal at Stark’s Headquarters we know, what about the other three. Jarvis can you see if the individuals taken were caught on any form of CCTV.” Batman asked.

“Negative. However, according to the position of the two signals on the coast, I can confirm that the individuals were in the ocean at the time. If local surf conditions were anything to go by they were most likely surfing.” Jarvis replied.

“What about the one in Oakland, why was that one weaker?” Banner asked.

“Unknown. The signal seems to be coming from inside a cliff face. There are no recorded subterranean developments in the area.” Jarvis announced.

 

The three were quiet for about a minute before they Bruce spoke up again.

“Jarvis can you bring up everything you know about this Annabeth Jackson?” he asked.

“Accessing available archive data. Annabeth Jackson, formerly Annabeth Chase, daughter of Fredrick Chase, biological mother Unknown. Ran away from home in 2006 - age 7 - and was reported missing by her step-mother. Case closed 3 days later when she was found by police. Attended San Francisco High School, graduated Dux of School. Attended Stanford University, graduating at age 24 with a Major in Architectural Design and a minor in Mathematical Analysis. Recruited out of College by Tony Stark as part of the ‘Young Bright Minds’ Initiative. Served as Assistant Head Architect and Head Architect for the construction of Stark Tower, New York City. Currently Head of Architectural Design for Stark Industries. Married to Perseus Jackson. Alert, falsified data detected.”

“What? Stark said, “Jarvis why didn’t you pick that up when we hired her?”

“An in-depth analysis was not performed.”

“What has been falsified?” Bruce asked.

“Falsified Data: Attended San Francisco High School, no official graduation from secondary school detected.”

“Then where did this girl go to school?” Banner asked.

“Alert. Falsified data detected: Missing person’s case from 2006. Case closure falsified.”

 

The silence in the room was deafening.

 

“Jarvis are you sure,” Tony asked. He didn’t know Annabeth well, but he did know that she was well liked among her peers, had a good relationship with Pepper and was a good friend to both Josh and Katelyn.

“Decrypted I.P. address indicates case closure report was submitted in the year 2017 from a device with a currently unknown location.”

Stark sighed before turning around and facing Wayne.

“If this is true, then we have warned Josh and Katelyn.”

“Why?” Banner asked confused.

“Because Annabeth Jackson is one of their best friends.”

 

* * *

**The Throne Room, Mount Olympus**

**Another Dimension**

**October 25 th, 2025**

 

Annabeth groaned as she stood up, her high-heeled shoes making a clanging noise on the tiles.

“Annabeth!” She heard Percy yell from her left. She turned around and felt her husband’s arms move around her, giving her a hug. He then let her go and moved to help Piper, who was still holding her surfboard as she lied on the floor. Meanwhile, Annabeth looked around and realised where she was. Olympus. And sitting on his throne at the head of the room was none other than the God of the Sky himself. An ear-shattering crack could be heard, and Jason, Frank and Hazel appeared on the floor. A final crack and Leo and Nico appeared as well.

 

“Everyone get up,” Annabeth hissed. As the other five Demigods stood up, Percy and Piper moved to stand next to her. Percy, who was still dripping wet and in his board shorts stood on her left, took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Piper stood on her right, holding her surfboard over herself as best she could as she was also still soaking and was wearing a not very conservative pink bikini. Annabeth couldn’t blame her. Piper was gorgeous, and it was well known that most of the problems in Greek Mythology were because Zeus couldn’t keep his hormones under control. Jason dusted himself off while Frank helped Hazel up, Nico steadied himself and Leo put out the flames that had erupted in his hair.

 

Once everyone was presentable (to a degree), Zeus spoke up. He was wearing his usual pinstripe suit and had his beard neatly cropped back. The master bolt was clearly visible sitting in the holster of his solid gold throne, crackling with electricity.

“Demigods. You are of course wondering why I have summoned you before me tonight. I have a task for the eight of you.”

“What task? Because the last task you gave us got Annabeth and I trapped in Tartarus.” Percy said. Gods did he not know when to shut up! Luckily for Percy, Zeus didn’t seem to care much.

“Most, if not all of you, know of the human team called the Justice League. In particular, the one is known as the Dragon. I have recently learned that the Justice League are preparing to attack us here on Mount Olympus.” That’s total bull shit Annabeth thought.

“They intend on supplanting us as the powers of the world. They have already gained entrance to some of our most sacred sights, and even now they complete construction of a weapon they believe will destroy us. These mortals intend on destroying all the gods and anyone or anything with a connection to them.” Annabeth saw Hazel and Frank share a look at this statement. Oh no. They were buying Zeus’s lies! Of course, they were. They’re Romans. Taught to always do by the god’s decree.

“I have learned that the key to completing the Justice League’s plan lies in the hands of the one known as the Dragon. An object that he keeps upon his person at all times that grants him power that rivals even the gods. To prevent catastrophe from ensuing, I am entrusting you, the most powerful demigods of the century with destroying the Dragon and retrieving this weapon. Can you complete this task?”

To Annabeth’s shock, it was Jason who answered.

“As you command father. We will retrieve this weapon.” He said.

“And destroy the Dragon,” Zeus added.

“Of course.”

Zeus sat back in his throne and smiled. He snapped his fingers, and the ground beneath them opened up causing all eight heroes to fall in.

 

** **

* * *

**Stark Tower, New York City**

**August 3 rd, 2025, 7:00pm**

 

“Sir the Global Radiation Map has been completed,” Jarvis announced.

“Put it on the big screen,” Stark told the U.I. He then walked over and stood next to Banner and Wayne.

“Shit,” Stark exclaimed.

 

The stuff was all over the globe. Small dots across the entire northern hemisphere with hotspots around Greece, Asia Minor, Italy, the entire state of Florida, the entire Californian coast and the largest pocket was around…

“New York City.” Banner said.

“Oh boy. This just got a whole lot worse.” Stark said.

 


	12. Confessions of a Demigod in Distress

 

Legend Comics Vol 3 (#17) Heroes vs Gods - Part 5

 

> _"When you decide not to be afraid, you can find friends in super unexpected places.”_
> 
> _– Ms. Marvel_

#  Confessions of a Demigod in Distress

* * *

**Camp Half-Blood – Top-secret training centre of the Greek Demigods**

**Long Island, New York City**

**August 3 rd, 2025, 7:30pm**

 

“You're not seriously considering this are you!” Percy practically screamed at his former teammates.

“Pretty hard not to Percy,” Hazel said.

“We were given very explicit orders.” Jason pointed out.

“Do you know how many times I’ve disobeyed orders from the Gods?” Percy angrily retorted

“Everyone be quiet!” Piper yelled, putting a little charm speak in her words to calm everyone down.

“Ok let’s take this from the top shall we,” Chiron said, trying to control the situation, “explain for me what happened please.”

 

The eight Demigods were sitting around the Ping Pong Table in the Big House discussing what Zeus had ordered them to do. Chiron the Centaur – Head trainer at the Camp, who had been in discussions with Reyna, leader of Camp Jupiter, had just trotted into the Big House, aka Camp Headquarters, to see all eight missing Demigods sitting around the Ping-Pong table arguing.

 

“Basically all eight of us were summoned to Olympus by Zeus who then ordered us to kill the Dragon and steal a weapon from his corpse and bring it back to Olympus so Zeus can use it to destroy the rest of the Justice League,” Piper explained to the old centaur. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“I assume this is not just a dragon he wants to be killed is it?”

“Nope. It’s The Dragon. New York Cities resident Superhero. A member of the Justice League. One of the heroes who turned back Darkseid during the Second Alien Invasion of Metropolis.” Annabeth clarified for him. Chiron didn’t have much connection to the mortal world and so didn’t know a lot about the happenings there. But even he knew about the Justice League.

“Zeus said that the Justice League is trying to overthrow the Gods and that the Dragon has a weapon that can do it,” Jason said.

“That’s total Bull Shit!” Annabeth yelled, surprising everyone. Annabeth never let her emotions get the better of her.

“What you think he’s lying?” Frank queried.

“Think about it guys. How many times has a God lied to you just to further their own agenda?” Nico stated.

“Why would Zeus lie about this? What benefit does he get out of killing a mortal?” Hazel asked. She was probably the person in the room with the least amount of experience of the outside world.

“Zeus wants the weapon for himself,” Annabeth told her.

“But if the Dragon doesn’t have a weapon then why would Zeus want it?” Jason asked.

“I didn’t say he didn’t have a weapon. I said the Justice League trying to overthrow the gods is bull shit. The Justice League are heroes. I wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for the Dragon!” Annabeth exclaimed, the volume of her voice rising higher and higher.

“What do you mean?” Chiron asked. Annabeth had never told him what happened the day of the bank robbery.

“It was a year ago. Percy and I were in a bank cashing Aphrodite’s wedding check, and the place was attacked by a band of armed robbers. One of them shot a bullet at my head. If the Dragon hadn’t have been there, I would have been killed.”

“We understand that Annabeth, but, that doesn’t change the fact that the League is a threat. Their dangerous and we have our orders. We need to follow them.” Jason said.

“You’re right. You’re right Jason. The Justice League are dangerous. The Hulk is stronger than Ares, the Flash is faster than Hermes and Supergirl is better looking, and a better person than Aphrodite will ever be. Iron Man is smarter than Hephaestus, Batman is a better tactician than Athena and both Superman, and the Dragon are more powerful than Zeus. Zeus is right. The Justice League have the power of gods, but, you know what the difference between the Justice League and the Olympians is? The Justice League use their powers to help normal people, people who can’t help themselves! People the Olympians on their high-horses believe to be beneath them! So Jason if you want to kill the Dragon on orders of daddy thunder-pants you’re going to have to go through me first!” Annabeth yelled standing up so fast she knocked the chair over. The blonde stormed towards the Big House door, before stopping with hand on the door handle.

“Who’s with me?”

 

Percy immediately stood up and walked over to his wife.

“Always.” He said.

The next person to stand up was Piper.

“I’m with you Annabeth. I’ve been a pawn of the Olympians to long, and if Zeus is ordering the death of people who are helping others and saving lives just because they’re human and not under his control, then I want nothing to do with them anymore. My ancestors are Cherokee Indians. I know what fear of other races does and I want no part in it.” She moved and stood next to her best friend.

Anxious glances were thrown around the people still seated. Nico pushed back his chair and stood up moving over to Annabeth’s party.

“I’ve been pro-superhero since Superman first appeared nine years ago. What makes you think an order from my uncle is going to change that?” the son of Hades said, raising his eyebrow.

“Nico, don’t go against the gods. It’s not worth it.” Hazel pleaded.

“Sorry, sis. Not going to happen.”

“Leo you are uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal,” Annabeth said to the son of Hephaestus.

“That’s because he’s already made up his mind,” Percy said.

“Why Leo? You of all people…” Piper began.

“Because Jason’s right. I’m sorry Annabeth. The Justice League are dangerous. Humans shouldn’t be allowed to hold weapons powerful enough to threaten the gods.” Leo said, shocking everyone.

“Who made you judge, jury and executioner?” Annabeth snarled at Leo before scoffing and walking out of the house.

 

Percy, Piper, Nico and Annabeth met up at the top of Half-Blood Hill five minutes later. Piper had run to the Aphrodite Cabin to get changed and use the cabins ‘insta’ drier to dry her hair before grabbing her belongings and throwing them in her magical extendable bag that her mother Aphrodite had given her. Percy just willed himself to be dry, benefits of being a son of Poseidon. Percy, Nico and Annabeth had all run to their respective cabins to gather their own belongings as well. Once Piper arrived at the top of Half-Blood Hill the Demigods put all their belongings in Piper’s magic bag and headed down towards the road. Now that there were a large number of older campers at the camp, a car park had been built at the foot of the hill, outside the boundaries and next to the road so people could leave their cars at camp and not risk them being towed away.

Annabeth led her team to a Toyota Land cruiser parked near the road.

“Annabeth, whose car is this?” Piper asked.

“It’s Leo’s.” She said simply.

“Then how do you plan on driving it?”

“Because I stole a set of keys from him before he even finished building it. The land cruiser is a disguise. It’s actually a mobile armoury with Celestial Bronze armour and a deployable ballista that comes out of the hood.” She said with a smile before unlocking the car.

 

Once everyone was inside the car, Piper asked the question that had been on her mind.

“Annabeth. Not to be rude or anything but you got pretty emotional in there. You only even get really emotional when something involves your close friends. So why are you so invested in this?”

“Because the Dragon is my friend, he’s your friend too. You just don’t know it.”

“I’m not following.”

“What Annabeth is trying to say is that she knows who the Dragon is under the glasses. His secret identity if you will.” Percy told her.

“Wait, and I know who he is too?”

“Yes you’ve met him multiple times,” Annabeth said.

“Ok…”

“Annabeth do you mind telling us where we’re going?” Nico asked.

“We’re going to Josh O’Neill and his fiancé Katelyn Sheppard’s apartment on the Upper West Side.”

“Why? What do these people have to do with any of this,” Nico asked confused.

“Oh, my gods!” Piper exclaimed.

“What, what am I missing?”

“We're going to their apartment to warn them,” Annabeth told him.

“Still not following.”

“We need to warn Annabeth’s friend that her fiancé has been targeted for death by one of the most powerful beings in the universe,” Percy explained.

“Nope, still not getting it. Why?”

“Because Josh O’Neill is the Dragon and he is going to need some help in he wants to live through the night,” Piper explained.

 

 

* * *

**Stark Tower – East Coast Headquarters of Stark Industries and current home of Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man.**

**New York City**

**7:45pm**

 

_“Ok so let me make sure I have everything correctly understood here. There is a chemical in normal human blood that stops you from seeing these creatures that aren't in mine and Kara’s. Some Metahumans have the chemical, but it isn’t working properly.”_

“That’s right,”

_“You’ve also figured out that there is a type of radiation that nobody knew existed before covering about two-thirds of the planet, with the largest amount of energy in New York City.”_

“Yep.”

_“And to make matters worse. You have evidence to suggest that Katelyn and Josh’s best friend is actually an imposter and that the real person has been dead for years. Correct?”_

“Correct.”

_“Any idea’s on why?”_

“The only thing I can come up with is that she’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. sleeper. They’re the only ones we know of that know Josh’s secret identity.”

_“Okay. God. Josh’s got a rough day ahead of him. I’ll let Kara and Barry know what’s happening.”_

“Stark and Banner are working on something that will allow humans to see these things and Stark has weaponised this radiation and is currently having Jarvis construct a new Iron Man Suit that he can use to see and fight the creatures. Listen, Clark, when you call Allen tell him to come to the tower and wait till Stark and Banner get this done. I have a feeling we are all going to have a long couple of weeks ahead of us, and we’ll need everyone in the best condition.”

_“The Hulk could be useful too.”_

“I agree, but we need Banner working on this here. Right now, Banner is more useful than Hulk.”

_“Ok. As soon as I call Kara and Barry, I’ll fly up and meet you guys at the Tower.”_

“Clark, you better call Shazam too. We need as many people who can see these monsters as we can get.”

_“Not a problem. I kind of liked the kid.”_

“I’ll talk to you when you get here.”

Bruce hung up the call and sighed. Bruce was worried that the team were about to come up against a threat bigger than any they had faced in the two and a half years since the League’s founding.

“Bruce. If you're done on the phone, you might want to come over here.”

Bruce made his way over to where Stark and Banner were standing in front of a screen looking at a dot moving towards the city.

“What’s that?”

“That is the device used to falsify that crime report on Annabeth. It’s currently headed towards the city.” Stark said, his voice was low and humourless. Very unlike himself.

“What’s the point of origin?” Bruce asked.

“Here,” Stark tapped a location on the north coast of Long Island, “the signal just appeared out of nowhere. As if someone turned off a cloak.”

“What’s at that location?” Bruce asked.

“A strawberry farm, according to Jarvis. But, after further analysis of the radiation map, we have been able to identify two places in New York where the radiation is denser than the rest of the city. The Empire State Building and…” Banner explained while Stark continued working on a tablet.

“A strawberry farm on Long Island,” Bruce concluded.

“Yep.”

Bruce stood silently for a few seconds.

“Stark. Do you think it’s possible to use the radiation to cloak a structure rather than an organism?”

“If you had some sort of shell to encompass the building I don’t see why not.”

“What about an entire settlement?”

“Doesn’t matter. You’d just need a bigger shell. Why?”

“I think those places where the radiation is denser are areas that have been cloaked from human vision,” Batman said.

 

Bruce sat down on a chair in front of the screen and watched the blinking red dot get closer and closer to the city. A few minutes had passed before a blast of wind and Barry was standing behind him in the Flash suit.

“Clark called, told me to come here as fast as possible. What’s going on, he said you’d explain once I got here?”

“Sit down Barry. It’s going to be a long night.”

 

* * *

 

**O’Neill Residence, Upper West Side, New York City**

**8:15pm**

 

“Ok. Everybody just let me do the talking. Percy, try not to say anything stupid and Piper whatever happens no charm speak. Got it?”

Percy, Piper and Nico all nodded their heads. They all knew that they were about to expose their world to possibly the most powerful human on Earth.

Annabeth took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

I got up off the couch where I was reading a comic and opened the door. To say I was surprised to see Annabeth, Percy, Piper and another kid I didn’t recognise at my door at 8:30 on a Friday night was an understatement.

“Um… Can we come in?” Annabeth asked. Something was wrong. All four of them looked nervous, the kid I didn’t know was looking straight at his shoe’s.

“Yeh sure.” I opened the door and let them walk in.

“Do you want a drink? Coke’s the only soft drink we have because neither of us drink it. We don’t have much alcohol because I can’t drink it, kidney problems. We have tea, coffee…”

“I’ll have a coffee thanks,” Piper said.

“Tea please,” Annabeth said.

Percy and the other guy shook their heads.

“Um not to be rude or anything but, I don’t know your name,” I said looking at the guy I didn’t know as I came back into the room with Piper’s coffee.

“Nico. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise mate,” I said taking his hand and shaking it. He had a kind of squeak to his voice, but the shake was solid. He was also quite scrawny.

I walked back into the other room to finish making Annabeth’s tea. I dialled up my hearing to see if they would say anything while I wasn’t in the room.

 _“Are you sure? This is the most powerful human on earth? An Australian who reads comic books, barely makes six-foot and can’t drink alcohol.”_ That was the scrawny guy, Nico.

 _“Shut up! He can probably hear you!”_ That was Annabeth.

 

Ok. Problem. They know.

 

What do I do now? I could deny it, but, that might be a bit stupid if they already know. Then again if they aren’t sure then admitting to it guarantees that they figure it out. Well, they haven’t brought it up yet, maybe they won’t. Even as I thought it I realised it wasn’t going to happen. All four of them looked on edge. They obviously knew something they were keeping a secret. Maybe something involving the Justice League? Well, only one way to find out. I steeled myself and walked back into the room.

“Your tea.”

“Thanks.”

Annabeth took a sip of the hot drink and sighed before putting it down on the table. I sat down on the couch opposite them with my own cup and began.

“Ok, out with it,” I said.

The four passed a look amongst themselves.

“Out with what?” Annabeth asked.

“Come on Annabeth, I’m not stupid. Something’s got you high strung, which I didn’t even know was possible before now and either you’re here because it involves me or you’re here because it doesn’t, and you need someone to vent to.”

An awkward silence ensued. Annabeth took another sip of her tea.

“So where’s Kate?” Percy asked.

“At the University, she has her monthly therapist check-up today. She refuses to let me come with her. She says she wants to prove to the therapist that she can do everything she could do before, that means using the self-driving car to drive herself down to Columbia without me.” I shrugged and took a sip.

“So what’s going on.”

 

“Josh. We haven’t been entirely honest with you.” Annabeth said.

“What do you mean?” Not what I was expecting but ok.

“You have to understand, we aren’t allowed to reveal the secret to humans, it’s against the law, and we are breaking all those laws by telling you. If you weren’t in danger I wouldn’t tell you at all, but, times change, and I am not going to lose my friend.”

“Ok, um why don’t we start at the I’m in danger part,” I said trying to keep a neutral expression on my face.

“I guess that’s as good a place to start as any. Percy, Piper, Nico and I aren’t human. The god Zeus has marked you for death, and the rest of our kind are on their way to kill you. We refused and came here to warn you.” Annabeth explained with an awkward smile on her face.

 

“Believe it or not, that is not the weirdest sentence I have ever heard,” I said with a laugh.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: Thor is on his way! He arrives next chapter!! Fair warning my Thor might be a little bit different than ones you've met previously. He's still the same guy, the same awesome godlike socially strange figure. But his mythology has been weived with that of the Olympian Gods and the Asmerians, whom you've yet to meet and know practically nothing about. You can thank the Presence for that. Thor and Josh are my connectors, they bridge the gap between Earth and the rest of the Twelve Realms. Yep, Twelve Realms. You can stew on that for a while if you want. Theorys are welcome of course. 
> 
> In other related news Justice League apparently isn't terrible! And Season 1 of the Punisher drops on Friday. And Wonder Woman confirmed in the Arrowverse. And Crisis on Earth X kicks off in less than two weeks. It is a good time to be a Comic book fan my friends. Not such a good time to have Exams though.


	13. I'm Calling it Civil War, Deal With It.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: Because I'm in a good mood. You get multiple chapters today. Your welcome. TBH i think this is possibly my favourite part of the story. Except maybe the Lord of the Rings chapter during the Multiverse Crisis. Oops, Spoiler Alert...

Justice League Vol 3 (#17) Heroes vs Gods - Part 6

> _“This doesn’t have to end in a fight.”_
> 
> _“There’s no other way this can end._ _Stay down. Final warning.”_
> 
> _– Captain America and Iron Man_

# I’m calling it Civil War, Deal With it.

* * *

**O’Neill Residence, Upper West Side, New York City**

**August 3 rd, 2025, 8:25 pm**

 

The four demigods just sat there, eyes blinking.

“Seriously, I had this conversation with Kara about Kryptonian Zits. Now that was weird. Apparently, the puss that comes out of those things can fill an entire bathroom sink.” The comment was a distraction. None of them noticed me press a button on my watch, which activated an emergency distress beacon calling all the members of the Justice League. Little did I know that they were already on their way.

 

“Are you going to tell me why I have been marked for death by a Greek god who doesn’t exist?” I asked.

“It’s complicated and spoiler warning, but they do exist,” Piper said.

“What’s a Kryptonian Zit?” Percy asked.

“It’s a zit on a Kryptonian. It’s kind of in the name.”

“You don’t seem that phased by us just telling you were not human,” Nico said, eyebrows furled.

“My girlfriend is a meta-human who can read people’s minds, and I hang out with two aliens, a human lightning bolt, a giant green rage monster, a man with an ego the size of a planet and a man who goes to work dressed like a bat. Did you seriously think admitting that you’re not human was going to scare me shitless or something?”

 

The four of them just sat there silent again.

 

“Wait a second you just admitted that you’re the Dragon. Why?” Annabeth asked.

“Because somehow you already know. I heard you talking from the other room, enhanced hearing, which makes me think you aren’t S.H.I.E.L.D. goons pulling my leg because they would never be that obvious.” I said with a wave of my hand.

“What’s S.H.I.E.L.D,” Piper asked frowning.

“Anyway, so why has the Lord of the Sky’s given me a death warrant and are you going to tell me what you are if not human or are you just going to sit there drooling on my carpet?” I asked.

“I think I need to clarify. We’re half human and half god.”

“You realise I’m an atheist right.”

“not God,” Nico said, putting emphasis on the ‘g’, “god. As in Greek and Roman gods.”

“My mother is Athena, Goddess of Wisdom,” Annabeth said.

“Aphrodite,” Piper said, raising her hand and shrugging.

“Son of Hades, God of the Underworld,” Nico said.

“My father’s Poseidon, God of the Sea,” Percy said.

“Okay, that’s not strange at all but back to the death warrant?”

“He says that the Justice League is going to attack Mount Olympus…” Piper began.

“In Greece?”

“Try the Empire State Building,” Percy exclaimed.

“… And that you have a weapon capable of defeating them.” Piper finished.

“Well, we certainly aren’t attacking Mount Olympus at the Empire State Building if that’s what you're worried about and I don’t know about any weapon, unless Stark’s been building one and hasn’t told anyone about it that is.”

“Zeus said and I quote, _“An object that he keeps upon his person at all times that grants him power that rivals even the gods.”_ Whatever this object is, Zeus wants it enough to go behind the Olympian councils back and trick our friends into killing you for it.” Annabeth said.

“A weapon he keeps on his person…power that rivals the gods. That’s what he said?”

“Does it mean anything to you?” Annabeth asked.

“It does. The thing Zeus wants, it’s a weapon all right. The most powerful weapon in the universe.” I said.

“What is it?” Percy asked.

I sighed and took the ring off my finger and placed it on the table. I trusted Annabeth before. She’s one of my best friends. I am going to trust her now.

“Annabeth, you asked me once what this ring was for. I said it was a promise ring. That was more or less true. I did make a promise, to the man who gave this to me almost ten years ago. To defend the weak and protect those who can’t protect themselves. This is what gives me my powers. The greatest weapon in this universe.”

 

The silence that followed was interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing. I picked it up to see who was calling. Bruce. About damn time. I answered and put it on speaker phone.

“Batman whats…”

_“Four hostiles inbound, bearing marks six and twelve.”_ He yelled. The ring flew off the table and onto my finger, my suit forming over my body. Percy pulled something out of his pocket, and I saw a bronze sword magically appear. Where the hell was he hiding that? I didn’t get time to ponder the question as an eagle smashed through the window facing the balcony and morphed into a pale Chinese guy who was built like a brick. That’s not confusing at all. I didn’t ponder it much, simply smashing him in the face with a fist construct to impede his movement and a blast of energy sent him off the balcony, down ten floors and into the park across the street. Then the front door was kicked open, but before I could do anything, Percy was fighting a blonde-haired guy with a golden sword.

“Wow, you guys really take the whole Greek thing to the extreme,” I said.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Annabeth with a smile. She was still sitting on the couch drinking her tea.

“Okay everyone instead of trashing my house why don’t we take this outside?” I said above the racket before I enveloped everyone in sphere’s and flew us out the shattered balcony window and landed in the park across the road.

 

* * *

**Stark Tower, New York City**

 

“Did you get the message through?” Barry asked Bruce as he dropped his phone on the table.

“I think so.”

Suddenly all the lights and screens in the room all blazed back to life.

“Fixed it.” Stark’s voice echoed up from somewhere within the lab.

“Jarvis, what the hell happened?” Batman asked.

“An E.M.P blast delivered by a lightning bolt struck the top ten floors of the tower Mr Wayne.”

“A lightning bolt? Stark how much how much longer until you get that transfusion working?” Bruce yelled as Stark and Banner ran back into the room.

“Still a good ten minutes. Same for the suit.”

“Are the satellites back up?” Barry asked zipping over to stand next to Stark.

“Not yet no.”

“Why?”

“Something is interfering with the signal. Jamming the transmission. Someone’s jacking my system!” Stark yelled.

“Oh, you think your good mate, well two can play that game. Nobody takes away my toys and gets away with it.” Stark mumbled as he furiously typed away at the computer.

* * *

**Camp Half-Blood, New York City**

 

Chiron was standing in centaur form outside the Big House looking at the stars praying for a miracle that would stop what he feared may be the start of a Demigod Civil War.

News had spread like wildfire of Annabeth, Percy, Piper and Nico’s decision to leave the camp and disobey the gods. The whole argument had now been blown up by the entire camp. Demigods taking sides in the argument of whether they should continue or stop supporting the gods. Chiron knew that soon violence would start and the entire camp would be at war.

 

Suddenly a great BOOM!! Echoed across the sky and a beam of rainbow light shot down from the heavens and landed right in front of him. The light continued falling down from the sky like a waterfall for a few seconds before dissipating, revealing silver and gold armoured figure wearing a long red cape with shoulder length blond hair and piercing blue eyes. In his right hand was an intricate war hammer with a red handle with gold bands situated at equal intervals around it. At the base of the handle was a leather strap.

A group of Demigods all ran up and surrounded the newcomer, weapons at the ready.

“Greetings Children of the Gods. I am Thor Odinson of the Realm of Asgard. I must speak with your leader immediately about a matter of grave importance.” Thor announced.

“Greetings Thor, it has been many a decade since I saw you last,” Chiron said trotting up to the Asgardian.

“Ah, Chiron. I did not recognise you. It is good to see you alive and well old friend.” Thor boomed. He dropped Mjolnir on the ground and walked forward to embrace Chiron. Despite Chiron being a centaur Thor was still his equal in height. The God of Thunder gave Chiron a firm hug before drawing back.

“Now I must speak with you on an important matter. The all-seeing guardian of Asgard Heimdall has seen a group of Demigods attacking one of the defenders of this realm. As the appointed Guardian of Midgard, Odin has tasked me with uncovering the truth of this matter.” Thor said somewhat solemnly.

“Indeed this is a story that has been developing over the day. I am not in possession of all the facts myself. From what I understand. Zeus summoned the eight most powerful Demigods to Olympus and gave them a mission to kill the Hero known as the Dragon and recover a weapon with the ability to defeat the gods from his possession. The chosen eight were not all of the same minds, however, and four refused Zeus order and left the camp. Shortly after the other four departed to complete the mission themselves.” Chiron explained.

“This is most troubling. I will go and continue my investigation at the site of the battle that Heimdall saw from Asgard. With any luck, I will arrive before anyone is gravely injured and assist in settling matters without violence.” Thor said. Mjolnir flew from the ground and into his hand.

“Farewell, for now, Chiron. I hope to see you again before I return to Asgard. The first round of ale I shall take upon myself.” Thor nodded towards Chiron before spinning his hammer around and launching into the sky.

Maybe Chiron had gotten his miracle after all.

 

* * *

**Riverside Park, Upper West Side, New York City**

 

I popped the bubbles and dropped everyone on the ground.

“Ok, I do believe introductions are in order before we resume trying to kill me,” I said landing on the ground. No one volunteered.

“Well if no one is going to speak up I’ll go first. Hi, my name’s The Dragon. I’m a member of the Justice League, and I can do or create anything I can imagine in my mind. See not so hard. What about you blonde guy with the golden sword. What’s your name?” I said.

Where the hell is everyone else? I’d rather settle this without fighting. I know I could take these guys out, and clearly, these guys think they can take me out, but, I’d wager they would think again if Superman or Supergirl hovered up behind me. I’ve just got to stall for time until backup can get here.

“How’s this for an introduction!” The tiny kid that looked like a Latino elf said before throwing a fire bolt at me. I created a hose construct and put out the fire bolt before it reached me.

“That was rude. I am trying to settle this civilly. I don’t want to hurt any of you, but, I will if you threaten…OOF!!” Something slammed into me and sent me flying into a tree.

It was a short woman with cinnamon hair and a dark complexion riding a horse.

“Ok, a horse with super-speed. Now I really have seen everything.” I mumbled.

“Surrender and hand over the weapon!” she yelled in an accent that had to make her from New Orleans.

“Hey Honey, it takes two to play a game of Superspeed. Try and keep up.” I told her before disappearing in a flash of white lightning. Just as planned the girl took the bait and raced her horse at superspeed after me. I ran north along the Hudson Parkway to Washington Heights before u-turning and racing back to the fighting ground. I slowed down enough to allow the girl and her horse to catch up to me. Once she was level with me, I jumped up and knocked her off the horse and into a building which as predicted caused the horse to slam on the breaks launching me forwards towards the battle ground. I smashed into the side of a bear, throwing myself and it across the park. I quickly got up and assessed the situation.

 

All hell had broken loose in my absence. Percy and the blonde haired guy were fighting each other. They weren’t pulling any punches either. Percy disarmed Blondie and knocked him to the ground. Percy was about to smash him over the head with his sword when a lightning bolt arched out of the sky and blasted him to the ground. Percy groaned and stood up, clothes smoking while Blondie grabbed his sword. Stark would love to get his hands on some of these weapons, I thought. Piper was fighting the Latino elf who had a flaming hammer with a bronze knife. Piper was clearly the better fighter of the two, as Latino Elf dude was just swinging his hammer around and Piper was easily avoiding each swing. Annabeth and Nico had been fighting the Asian dude who could transform into animals before I charged him and knocked him unconscious.

I decided the next thing I needed to do was help Piper take out flaming hammer guy. I flew up in the air and hit him with a blast of energy from my hand. The attack distracted him, so Piper could kick him in the side and knock him to the ground.

Final two to deal with were Percy and Blondie. I landed on the ground next to Piper and asked,

“Who’s the blonde with the lightning powers?”

“That’s Jason, Son of Zeus. My ex-boyfriend.” Piper said.

“Any recommendations for taking him out.”

“Give Percy an opening, he’ll do the rest.” She said.

I smirked and created a Ferrari construct and jumped into it.

“Hop in,” I told Piper. She jumped in the seat beside me, and I revved the engine. I drove straight at Jason and Percy, who were still sword fighting. Just as I came up next to them, I hit the brakes and swung the car around, doing a burnout and clipping Jason from behind causing him to lurch forward and fall over. I slammed on the accelerator and got out of Percy’s way.

“Woohoo!” Piper yelled from the seat beside me as we cleared the area

I stopped a few metres away and watched as a wave of water rose up from the river and slammed down on Jason’s head. Percy then moved his hands, and the water formed a massive hand to keep Jason contained.

“Perks of being a Son of Poseidon I assume,” I said to Piper as the construct Ferrari melted away, and we ran back towards Percy who had Jason suspended in the air.

“Yeh, he can control almost any form of water-based liquid, create earthquakes and tornadoes and use water to heal from almost any injury,” Piper said.

“So you guys all have powers because your parents are gods?”

“Yeh.”

“You guys could be doing so much with your powers. Helping people and saving lives. Why don’t you?”

“It’s against the rules. We aren’t allowed to use our powers in front of mortals, but we don’t sit around doing nothing. Percy and Annabeth have prevented the end of the world at least five times since they met when they were twelve.” Piper explained.

“Ok, looks like I’ve got some catching up to do.”

 

We arrived back at the main battleground. Animal guy and horse girl were back in the fight and were fighting Annabeth, Nico and a legion of skeleton warriors, while fire guy was fighting Percy in an attempt to get him to lose concentration and release Jason. It worked, and Percy let Jason loose and used the hand to smash fire dude instead.

“What’s fire dude’s name?” I asked Piper.

“Leo,” She said.

“Ok stay here. I’m calling in an aerial strike.” I told the Daughter of Aphrodite before running towards Leo.

“Hey, Leo! Torch this!” I yelled forming a train construct around myself and smashing it into him, throwing him to the ground. The train melted away, and I let out a massive wolf whistle. Suddenly three jet planes flew out of the sky and opened fire on Jason and the guy who could turn into animals forcing both to duck and cover. Nico used his skeleton warriors to pin down Jason while Annabeth knocked horse girl out with a side kick. Percy then summoned a massive wave which crashed on everyone’s heads drowning us. What the hell was he doing?

 

The wave washed away, and I realised that I wasn’t wet. Neither was Nico, Annabeth or Piper, the others had all been washed to the other side of the park and were saturated. We all stood back up and circled up. Five of us on one side, the other four on the other. Suddenly there was a crack in the sky which caused everyone to look up. Suddenly a tall blonde haired man wearing old-fashioned armour holding a war hammer dropped out of the sky and landed between the two groups.

“Cease your attack upon one another!” the man boomed.

“He one of your friends?” I whispered to Annabeth.

“Nope, but he does have the aura of power that usually accompanies Gods.”

“Oh goody.”

“I am Thor Odinson of the Kingdom of Asgard. I have come here to assist in ending this conflict before it gets out of hand.” The man who called himself ‘Thor’ said.

“Asgard as in Norse Mythology?” Annabeth asked. I knew that voice. That was her I’m curious, and I am not going to give up until you tell me everything that you know voice.

“Indeed. Though we are as much myths as the gods of Olympus you know only too well.” He said.

“So why are you here?” Percy asked, probably hoping to forestall the millions of questions that Annabeth no doubt wanted to ask.

“I have been sent by the All-Father to learn the truth behind the reason this realm’s greatest protectors fight amongst each other and if possible mend the divide before it widens any further. We of Asgard are different to those of Olympus in that we solve our own problems rather than make Demigods do it for us. You need not worry, I am a friend.”

That shut everyone up real fast.

“Did I say something funny?” Thor asked.

“Sorry ah, Mr Thor just processing. It’s been a long day.” I said.

“Thor is fine Warrior of Asmere.” He said in response.

“Um, Warrior of what exactly?”

“Of Asmere. Your powers are derived from the light of the Emotional Spectrum are they not?” Thor asked a frown forming on his face.

“No, they are. At least I think they are, I don’t know all the details.”

“Then a Warrior of Asmere you are.” Thor proclaimed.

“Ok. I’d love to talk to you more about that later, but right now I think we should do what you said you came for.”

“Indeed. We must settle this dispute so this realm can have its guardians restored. Now, what is the quarrel between your two groups?”

 

Unfortunately, Thor’s attempt at diplomacy got no further as he was smashed in the face and sent hurtling through the air and over blocks of houses by Superman, who had finally arrived. I looked up to see Supergirl and Shazam fly overhead in pursuit of Thor.

 

“Oh come on!”

“What?” Superman asked turning to me.  
“We were making progress. We were working out our differences and then you had to go and punch the mediator and send him halfway across the city.”

“Sorry. He looked like the biggest threat, so I removed it. Can someone fill me in please?”

“Not here!” I told him and as I created bubbles around the eight Demigods and flew off in the direction of the others with them in tow.

Superman flew up beside me with a questioning look on his face.

“I can’t talk now it’s too complicated. Right now, we need to stop Supergirl and Shazam from starting a war with the Norse Gods. Where are the others?”

“At the tower. Stark and Banner are almost finished with a serum that counters the radiation that stops humans from seeing the creatures. And did you say Norse God?”

“Yep. Today I’ve learnt that the Greek Gods, the Roman Gods and the Norse Gods are all real, my best friend is actually the daughter of a Greek Goddess, and I’ve received a cryptic clue as to where my powers actually come from. It’s been a long day.”

 

We found Supergirl and Shazam facing off against Thor in the middle of the south quad of Columbia University. I flew down low over the buildings and dropped my passengers at the edge of the field and flew between the two groups.

“Justice League Stand Down!” I yelled.

“This is all a misunderstanding. Thor, Superman, didn’t mean to hit you. I signalled him and the rest of my team before you arrived. He assumed incorrectly that you were the threat and attacked. He humbly apologises for his actions. Doesn’t he Superman.” I said through gritted teeth.

“I apologise for striking you, Thor,” Clark said landing next to Supergirl and Shazam.

“You need not apologise Man of Super. Yours was a finer hit than any I have experienced since I last battled the Fire Demon Surtur!” Thor grandly announced. Walking over to Superman and offering his hand.

“I am Thor, Son of Odin. It is good to make your acquaintance.” Thor said respectfully.

I sighed and landed on the ground. Crisis averted for now.

“And who are you, fair maiden,” Thor said turning to Kara.

I might have spoken too soon.

“Ahm…, Supergirl. My name’s Supergirl. Well, my superhero names Supergirl, my real names Kara,” Kara threw her hand over her mouth to shut herself up. She had to take a deep breath before continuing. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr Thor.” Wait a second. Was she blushing!

“The honour is all mine to meet a dame as beautiful as yourself. But I must correct you, Lady Kara, for my correct title is Prince Thor, Son of Odin, but you may simply call me Thor.” Thor took Kara’s hand and gave it a quick kiss. Oh yeah, she was definitely blushing.

“Judging by your robes and aura, I assume you are an individual blessed with the power of the Great Wizard Shazam am I correct?”

“Yes. How did you…?”

“I was told stories of the Council of Wizards when I was a child. I was unaware the Wizard finally found someone who was pure of heart.” Thor said.

“He didn’t. I convinced him that there was no such thing.” Shazam said.

“Well, it was about time someone told him that.”

The eight Demigods walked over together and stood just behind Superman, Supergirl and Shazam. The fact that they were standing next to each other certainly said something.

“We have called a temporary truce,” Percy said.

“Until we have the whole story,” Jason said. The guy clearly didn’t like me for some reason.

“We are willing to hear you out.” The Asian dude who could turn into animals said. He walked up to me and held out his hand. I tentatively accepted it.

“Frank Zhang, Son of Mars.” He said. Finally, now I could stop calling him the Animal guy in my head.

“The girl with the horse is Hazel,” He continued pointing to horse girl, “and Leo is the guy who keeps lighting things on fire.”

Thor stood back and smiled.

“It has been an honour to make your acquaintance members of the League of Justice and Children of the Olympians. It would seem my work here is done. I must return to Asgard and give my report to the All-Father. Farewell.” Thor moved a short distance away and prepared to call down what I assumed was the portal that would take him back to Asgard when a bright flash of light blinded everyone in the Quad.

When it cleared standing at the head of the quad was a figure dressed in golden armour with lightning bolts engrossed on it. He was slightly taller than Thor, had a short white beard and held a Lightning Bolt in his hand. (I’m not talking about a lightning bolt from a kids movie, but a rod of crackling electricity that he held in his hand.) This must be Zeus.

“Son of Odin!” Zeus’s voice echoed across the entire courtyard, “you will pay for your interference in this matter!” With that Zeus shot a lightning bolt straight at Thor. The bolt hit him in the chest and forced him back a few steps.

Thor hefted his hammer and prepared to make a counter attack when a tunnel of rainbow light fell from the sky landing behind him. When it cleared a figure riding, I kid you not, an eight-legged horse with an eye-patch and a golden staff, flanked by Zena, Robin Hood, Jackie Chan, a Viking-dwarf hybrid and fifty odd soldiers dressed in medieval armour. More flashes of light and twelve figures were now standing behind Zeus. Oh crap.

“Zeus you have broken the Accords, prepare to face the wrath of Asgard!” the leader of the Asgardians, who could only be the All-Father, Odin, called out.

 

Just as the two sides were about to attack a wall of golden lightning appeared between the two. The wall became bigger and bigger before it disappeared, revealing the Flash, who then stood by the rest of the League. I turned and saw Iron Man carrying Batman and Bruce fly up and land on the ground next to us.

“Sorry we’re late, took a while to get this new suit out of the shop. I call it the Monster-buster Armour. What do you think?”

 


	14. Olympians vs Asgardians. No, I’m not lying, this is actually happening

#  Olympians vs. Asgardians. No, I’m not lying, this is actually happening.

Columbia University, Morningside Heights,

New York City

August 3rd, 2025, 8:45 pm

 

“Here’s the cliff notes. These eight are Demigods. Children of Greek or Roman gods with powers. Yes, they’re real. Zeus, the Lord of the Olympians, wants the Dragon power for himself so tricked those guys into attacking me for it. Thor, who is a Norse god from Asgard, showed up to try and fix the whole problem. Which worked until Zeus appeared and attacked Thor, which caused the Norse Gods to come down from Asgard and attack Zeus. Now the rest of the Olympians have appeared to back up Zeus, and we now have a full on Godly War to deal with in the middle of an area with a high number of civilians. Everyone on the same page?” I asked. An explosion erupted behind me. If this were an action movie, it probably would have looked like one of those cheesy scene’s where the car blows up as the hero walks away. I hate those scenes.

 

“Ok. On our end, Stark has weaponised the radiation found on the bronze knife and applied it to the Iron Man Suit, and Banner found a way to allow humans to see the creatures.” Batman explained.

“Monsters. The creatures you’re talking about. They’re monsters from Greek Mythology. We hunt them down and kill them all the time.” Percy said.

“Okay. Monsters it is. These guys are keeping each other occupied for now, but this fight is going to spill into the campus buildings really soon. Our number one priority has to be getting the civilians out of harm's way. Ignore the gods for now. Dragon you went to Uni here, where’s the best evac site?” Batman asked.

I pointed up towards the main area of the complex, “Up there and turn right. There’s a large courtyard that opens out onto Morningside Dr for Emergency Vehicles to get in.” I said.

“Ok, that’s where we marshal the civilians. Flash I want you and Supergirl on the North perimeter buildings, use your speed to get them out, Shazam take the south perimeter, Iron Man and I will take the east, Dragon the west. Superman, try and keep the damage and debris from hitting the buildings. Banner get the Hulk to that evac sight and smash any god that goes anywhere near it, think he can do that?”

“He can do it.” Banner replied before letting the beast unleash.

Hulk nodded his head to Batman before leaping away.

“Batman, you forgot about the central library?” I said.

Batman turned to the Demigods.

“Look I know you guys have had a rough day, but right now I don’t care. I don’t care whether you were in the group who came to warn the Dragon of the attack or the ones who were attacking him. Right now there are civilians, people who just want to live their lives in peace, out there who are going to die if we don’t help them. You need to put petty squabbles and arguments aside because right now, those people need you. We need you to help us save lives. Can you do that?”

 

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that we can definitely do that,” Percy said.

“All right. Justice League. MOVE OUT!!!” Batman yelled.

 

And with that the team split up, everyone headed in different directions. My first priority, however, was to find Katelyn, who was here with her therapist and get her out.

 

I raced through the western buildings at Superspeed searching for Katelyn. I found her wheeling herself out of the shower block. She must have just finished a session in the pool. I grabbed her and the chair and raced her to the evac site. I put her down and gave her a quick kiss.

“You okay?”

“Yeh, I’ll be fine. How much power you got?” She asked.

I held up the ring and checked. A little display appeared showing 52%. Nowhere near enough.

“Go. Remember whatever happens that I love you.” She said with a soft smile.

“I love you too,” I said before flying off at top speed to continue the evacuation.

 

Tony Stark, wearing the Monster-buster Armour flew through the window of a dorm room and saw two college kids having sex in a bathtub.

“Have to give you credit. The world's going to hell, and you're having sex. Not sure I could think of any way I would want to end it that’s better than that.” He said before picking up the tub and flying it out of the window and over to the evac site. Meanwhile, Shazam was guiding a group of dorm staff out the back entrance of the south building.

“Come on everyone. Don’t worry about your belongings. Your life is more important than your computer. I think. I guess it’s a personal opinion.”

The last group exited the building, and Billy walked them around the exterior of the complex and up to the evac site.

 

Percy and Annabeth kicked the doors of the main library open and ran inside, the other eight Demigods behind them. A group of ten people of various ages were cowering in the centre of the main entrance.

“Okay, two of you need to get these guys to the evac site, the rest of us fan out and collect any stragglers,” Annabeth said.

“I’ve got these guys,” Piper said running over to the group and using her charm speak to get them moving. Jason moved up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll help you.” He said.

“I can do it myself.” She said pushing his hand off and leading the group to the front door.

“I’ll cover your rear,” Jason said following behind them.

“Fine cover the rear,” Piper replied irritated. She led the group towards the evac area, which was clearly marked by Hulk, who was standing at the main entrance as a guard.

“Everyone in here quick,” Piper told the group.

As the last of them ran in Jason turned to Piper and asked.

“Why did you call me your ex-boyfriend back in the park?” he asked.

“You really want to talk about this now.”

“Yes.”

“Fine. I called you my ex because we are done, Jason. We’ve been done for a while now, I just haven’t been ready to accept it. You spend all your time doing things at the camps, whether as Pontifex organising temple construction or as a teacher instructing the legion or a trainer in the battle area. You rarely ever make any time for me, and the amount of time has gotten less and less as we’ve gotten older.” Piper exclaimed.

“I think you're exaggerating slightly,” Jason said.

“Really? Where do I live?”

“The Aphrodite Cabin,” Jason stated.

“No, I don’t. I haven’t lived there in years.”

“Oh, you mean in the mortal world. Your apartment in Queen’s.”

“I moved out of the Queen’s apartment six months ago. I moved in next to Annabeth and Percy when they told me the place next to theirs was free so I wouldn’t be so alone all the time. Leo came to see me often, but you didn’t show once! You going against me in the argument earlier was the final straw.” Piper yelled, “So yes you’re my ex. You’re going to have to get used to not having a daughter of Aphrodite on your arm when you go somewhere fancy in the future.” With that Piper ran off back towards the Library leaving Jason standing in the evac area. Katelyn who was deeper inside had heard the entire thing. Benefits of being telepathic. So that was the mysterious Jason that Piper was always bitching about. Katelyn opened the armrest of her chair and pulled her computer out, she then pulled her headset from a pouch in the same pocket and placed it in her ear activating it. She then proceeded to hack into Stark’s satellite feed and use it to bring up a thermal scan of the area. There were still hundreds of moving lifeforms in the complex. The only exceptions were the dots running and marshalling everyone else that were the Justice League and a few dots closer to the battle that wasn't moving at all. The attack had already claimed its first lives. 

“Supergirl, Flash. This is Oracle can you hear me?”

“Good to know you’re alright Oracle. What have you got?” Flash said.

_“There are twenty-five heat signatures on the top floor of the building you're currently in Supergirl. Flash it’s the one on your left.”_

“Copy that. We’re on it.” Kara said before flying up a level and smashing through the window. The room was a restaurant, and there were at least half a dozen kids under the age of ten inside.

“Ok guys. My name is Supergirl. I’m a member of the Justice League, and I’m here to help.”

Kara picked up a five-year-old and her three-year-old brother and moved towards the window.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure your kids are fine. I promise.” She said to their tearing mother, who simply nodded her head. Kara floated out the window and flew over to the evac site. She set the kids down and prepared to fly back to the building when she saw a figure flying straight towards the evac sight. She was about to fly up and punch it out of the way, but she was beaten to it. The Hulk leapt up into the sky, grabbed the god and launched him back towards the sight of the battle. Hulk landed on the roof and let out a victory roar.

“Nice work Hulk!” Kara yelled before taking off and flying back to the building.

Supergirl cleared the rest of the building and was just about to leave with the last two people when she heard a signal over the com.

“Supergirl get down!” Kara barely had time to turn around before she was hit by the Flash. A large piece of debris had flown into the building taking out the support column and sending it toppling to the ground. Flash had used his speed to get the civilians out then come back for her. He had launched himself at her and knocked her out of the way. The two heroes fell out of the building. She was too close to the ground to try and fly out so she grabbed Barry, pulled him in as tight as she could and impacted the ground. She succeeded in breaking his fall yes. But they still landed with a thud on the ground, and if Kara hadn’t have been between Barry and the ground, he would have been seriously injured. Kara let go of Barry, and he quickly rolled off and laid on the ground next to her.

“Thanks for saving my life.” He said.

Kara surprised even herself by what she did next. She rolled over on top of Barry and snogged him.

“Don’t mention it.” She said when she came up for air. She then rolled off and flew away to deal with the next building, leaving a dumbstruck Flash lying on the grass amongst the wreckage of the restaurant.

 

_“Guy’s this is Oracle. I’ve called Police, Fire and Ambulance and told them all where the evac site is and how to get there. Ambo’s should be there within five minutes to extract the wounded, copper’s and firey’s to evacuate the rest shortly after because they are giving the ambo’s priority.”_

“For those of us that don’t speak Aussie slang Oracle,” Superman said over the sounds of the fight between the Olympians and the Asgardians going on beneath him.

_“It means that Emergency Services have been notified of where the evacuation site is and are acting accordingly, Superman.”_

“Thank you.” Clark spotted a chunk of earth headed towards the Library. He flew over to it and smashed through it, reducing it to dirt. But in doing so, he missed a rogue lightning bolt that Odin had deflected towards a building.

_“Dragon. The Pulitzer Building’s not cleared, bottom floor!”_

I saw the bolt and dived. I smashed through a wall and a roof on the way, but the pain didn’t matter. There was a little girl there. I smashed down through the roof and threw up a shield construct. The lightning hit the shield, the force of the blow sending me across the room. I crashed into a heavy metal object and flopped to the floor.

“Ow.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I raised my head to look up. I found myself staring into a pair of deep green eyes. I sat up and leant against a wall. The eyes it turned out belonged to a short woman with long brown hair. Attached to the woman’s leg was a little girl, no more than five years old. She had dirty blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, and she was wearing a t-shirt with the Dragon symbol on it. Instant win in my book.

“Are you okay?” The woman asked, holding her hand out to help me up. I took it, and she lifted me to my feet.

“Thanks. What’s your name?”

“Helena. Helena Sandsmark. This is Cassie.”

“Okay, Helena, you and Cassie need to get out of here it’s not safe. Take my hand.” I told Helena. She placed her hand in mine without hesitation.

I dropped back down to my knees and put my free hand on Cassie’s shoulder.

“Hi, Cassie. I love your t-shirt. I need you take my hand okay. I promise everything is going to be fine.”

Cassie unhooked herself from her mum’s leg and took my hand.

“Okay, we’re going to fly. Ready.” I said looking at Cassie.

She nodded her head really fast.

“Okay, here we go.” I lifted us off the ground and flew out the hole in the roof. I flew around the battle and landed in the evac site. Annabeth, Piper and Percy ran up to me as I landed.

“We got everybody,” Annabeth said.

Barry speeded up next to us, “Us too.”

I tapped my earpiece and said, “Oracle how we looking on your end?”

_“Batman, Shazam and Iron Man are bringing the last group up from the south now. Everyone else has been brought to the evac site. The first wave of ambulance’s just left with the critically injured. Guys, I already count thirteen people dead.”_

 

Everyone remained silent until Batman, Shazam and Iron Man arrived.

“So what now?” Annabeth asked.

“Now we take the fight to them! Everybody listen up. I have a plan.”

 

* * *

 

Thor and Sif were battling Ares a few meters from where Odin was fighting Zeus. The main thing that Thor had noticed during the battle was that only a small number of Olympians were actually fighting. Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite and Artemis were just standing there doing nothing. Apollo shot the occasional arrow into the Asgardian forces but nothing too serious. Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg were battling Hera and Demeter, and the Asgardian Army was battling Hermes, Dionysus and Hephaestus. Thor assumed that Zeus had done something to offend the Olympians who weren’t fighting (which he had no trouble believing at all) and now they were content to let their fearless leader fall for his mistake.

Thor’s pondering left him open to attack from Ares. The god of war attempted a thrust but was blocked by Sif. Suddenly a giant green creature dropped out of the sky and landed next to Ares. He then picked up the God and threw him to the other side of the field where the other Olympians were standing. Thor and Sif watched as the fighting Olympians were slowly rounded up and cast back onto the other side of the courtyard. Hermes was assaulted by the man Thor recognised as the speedster from earlier. He tricked Hermes into giving chase. He then lured him to the other side and kicked him in the face sending him flying. Hephaestus was attacked by the man in the flying suit while Dionysus was forced back by the man dressed as a Bat. The one chosen by the wizard and the flying Dame attacked Hera and Demeter, easily forcing the two back onto the Olympian side of the quad. Finally, the Man of Super attacked Zeus by punching him in the face. A punch that saw the Lord of the Sky fly backwards under the force of it.

Suddenly a wall of white energy appeared between the two groups, Asgardians on one side and Olympians on the other. The Warrior of Asmere expanded the width of the wall, using it to push the two sides backwards, away from each other. Thor had to commend him, it was an excellent strategy.

 

Ok, Josh, part one of the plans worked. Now for the hard part.

I let the wall dissipate leaving me hovering alone between the two opposing armies. I wasn’t for long, though. Superman and Supergirl flew up on either side of me and hovered next to me. Superman facing the Olympians, Supergirl facing the Asgardians, both with their eyes powered up for extra effect. The Flash speeded in and stood beneath me, looking at the Asgardian side while Iron Man and Batman stood on either side of him, both facing the Olympians. Hulk and Shazam stood on the edge watching both sides. All eight Demigods stood to the sides.

I materialised a microphone and started talking.

“Ok. Now that we have your undivided attention, why don’t we, instead of beating the crap out of each other and committing millions of dollars of property damage and try and settle this civilly?”

No side made a move.

“Ok, I’ll take that as a maybe. In order for us to be of any help here, we need facts. Zeus, because you’re the only one here I know for a fact that I am pronouncing their name right, you get to go first. Why are you attacking the Asgardians?”

“They have broken the truce between Olympus and Asgard,” Zeus yelled angrily.

“Ok, so there was a truce that was broken. Does anybody want to fill me in on what this truce is about?”

“The truce between Asgard and Olympus concerning the affairs of the worlds and other realms.” Thor began, “because neither side could agree to share the Earth. We agreed simply to not interfere in the affairs of the others.”

“Thank you, Thor. See progress. Now Zeus, what happened that you believe resulted in the truce being broken?”

“The Son of Odin attacked our children, thereby meddling in our affairs,” Zeus stated smugly.

“Actually, Thor didn’t attack any of us he was trying to stop us from fighting each other,” Annabeth said loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Ok so the way I see it Zeus had no reason to declare war. Odin and I am sorry if I am pronouncing your name wrong, what did Zeus do to break the truce?”

“Zeus attacked Thor directly as he was returning to Asgard,” Odin said.

“That is what happened,” Annabeth said.

“Ok so as far as I understand it the Asgardians had every right to attack you, but you had no right to attack them. Now while we're on the subject of things you have no right to do, maybe Zeus can answer why he tricked a group of Demigods into trying to kill me?”

 


	15. Heroes vs Gods

Justice League Vol 3 (#19) Heroes vs Gods - Part 8

#  Heroes vs Gods

**Columbia University, Morningside Heights,**

**New York City**

**August 3 rd, 2025, 9:00 pm**

 

Every set of eyes turned towards Zeus. Most people would be kind of anxious under that kind of scrutiny. The Lord of the Sky was furious.

“You dare threaten me with your lies!” He boomed.

“Threaten yes, lies not so much.”

I created a large hologram screen so both sides could see what was going on and displayed a video.

_“The god Zeus has marked you for death, and the rest of our kind are on their way to kill you. We refused and came here to warn you. Zeus said and I quote_ , _“An object that he keeps upon his person at all times that grants him power that rivals even the gods.” Whatever this object is, Zeus wants it enough to go behind the Olympian councils back and trick our friends into killing you for it.”_

The screen was showing memories straight from my head. Annabeth’s voice basically spelt doom for any leeway Zeus had in the conversation.

“We are the protectors of this world! We are gods. We do not have to answer to mortals!” Zeus claimed.

“The protectors of the world huh. Well, clearly you haven’t gotten the memo. We’re the Justice League, and we are the protectors of Earth. And right now you do have to answer to us mortals.” Superman said.

“You dare…”

“Where were you during the Brainiac Invasion? What about the Gotham City Blackout or the Particle Accelerator Explosion? The Darkseid Invasion, The Night of the Owls or H’El’s attempt to bring back Krypton on Earth’s ashes? You were there for none of it. Who was? Us. If it weren't for us, Earth would have been destroyed a long time ago. You call yourselves protectors, gods. Your just an old man trying to hold on to power you had thousands of years ago. Ordering around your children to do your dirty work. You’re no protector Zeus. You’re a tyrant like your father before you.” Batman said. He said it with no anger or malice, no emotion of any kind. It was fact.

However, Zeus wasn’t having any of it.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN CHALLENGE ME!!!!” He hefted the Master bolt and fired a lightning bolt straight at me. I threw up a shield construct just in time. The shockwave from the impact of the lightning on the shield blew everyone human, metahuman, demigod and god alike a good 100metres backwards.

 

Clark got up from where he landed following Zeus attack. He opened his eyes and immediately closed them again. The glare was massive. Superman opened his eyes again, squinting while they adjusted. He was horrified at what he saw. The Dragon was hovering in the air arms outstretch maintaining the shield construct that was deflecting the lightning bolt. Clark flew towards Zeus but found he couldn’t. The shock wave was too strong. Hulk was having no better luck. He was trying to run towards Zeus but was being repelled the same way Clark was.

 

“Power level’s dropping like a stone boss.” The rings voice said.

“32%.”

The connection was breaking up, but I could still hear Kate’s voice.

_“Dragon? Dragon? Josh!”_

_“Power levels 19%. Critical Failure imminent.”_

“Katelyn. I love you.”

_“Power levels 7%.”_

I closed my eyes and braced myself. I could feel the suit melting away.

“Shield integrity 1%.”

I looked at my hand and saw a crack appear in the ring.

The Ring shattered, the shield failed, and the bolt hit me in the chest. I was launched backwards. I flew across the field and over a building before I began my descent. I smashed through a roof, multiple floors and walls. To be honest, I didn’t feel most of it, I was still in incredible pain from the lightning bolt. I flung out of the building and crashed in the evac site. I tried to open my eyes, but, everything was blurry, so I closed them again. Every movement, every breath was agony. So this is what dying feels like then. I let out a final breath and felt myself slip away.

 

* * *

 

“Dragon? Dragon? Josh!” Katelyn yelled into her headset. There was a large number of people crowded around her, watching her screen and listening to what was going on. Oh god, what happened? She got her answer when a building next to the evac site exploded, throwing shrapnel and building pieces everywhere. At the head of the explosion was a figure. Luckily Kate didn’t get hit by any debris, so she was clear to activate the motor and drive over to where he landed.

When she arrived at the crater, she was horrified by what she saw. Josh was lying on his back at the head of the crater in just the charred remains of a grey long sleeve Ripcurl shirt, and a pair of blue denim jeans and his whole body was smoking. His right arm was burnt black, and there was a metal pole stuck through his left leg. His head was bleeding, and his left arm was clearly out of alignment.

“Josh?” Kate leant forward, reached down as best she could and took his left hand.

“Come on Josh. The world is not done with you yet. I’m not done with you yet.”

 

* * *

 

The light abated to reveal Zeus standing in the field alone with a simple bronze rod in his hand. Zeus had depleted the master bolt, and the Dragon was nowhere to be seen.

“You son of a bitch!” Supergirl yelled.

Suddenly the seven broken fragments of the ring floated up in the air, and seven identical voices echoed out at once.

_“Restoration in progress.”_

The seven fragments changed seven different colours and reformed themselves until there were seven rings hovering in the middle of the field. The voices rang out again.

_“Host not detected. Scanning Dimensional Sector for sentient replacement.”_ The seven rings then flew away. The incredibly strange moment was interrupted by two words.

“Hulk SMASH!!!”

Hulk pounced on Zeus smashing him in the face while Flash followed up with a supersonic punch to the stomach. The rest of the League followed their example. Shazam punched him with a magical lightning infused kick to the back while Superman pulled his legs out from under him and Iron Man blasted him with repulsors. Zeus fell to the ground, and Batman side kicked him in the face. Supergirl flew up in the air and released her heat vision at Zeus’s face with a scream. Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis and Apollo quickly disappeared in a flash of light. The army of Asgard just stood open mouthed as the League took on one of the most powerful beings in the Multiverse.

“ENOUGH!” Zeus yelled. He threw off the league members and grew to giant size.

“You are all of you beneath me! I am a God!”

“We don’t care!” The entire Justice League yelled in response.

Superman and Supergirl launched themselves at the now giant Zeus, giving him a double Kryptonian Uppercut to the jaw. Stark flew up into the sky and unloaded a payload of radiation enhanced missiles into his head, causing multiple puncture wounds. Zeus called down a lightning bolt in retaliation, but Shazam intercepted and redirected it back at Zeus’s face. Flash whipped around and launched three of his own speed force lightning bolts at Zeus at the same time. Meanwhile, Hulk jumped onto Zeus’s left arm and began using his weight to drag it down to the ground. Percy broke ranks with the rest of the Demigods and charged towards the God of the Sky. He jumped up as high as he could and used his sword, Riptide, to slice open Zeus’s left knee. Zeus fell to his knee in pain leaving himself open for Batman to use his grapple to tie his hands together behind his back. Hulk then used his extra momentum to bring Zeus to the ground while Flash speeded up and unloaded about 100 punches into his face at super speed and Stark shot him in the face with his uni-beam. Hulk then grabbed Zeus’s leg and spun it around, using the momentum of the gods spinning body to lift him over his head and launch him into the sky. Superman moved to punch Zeus back to Earth, but Thor beat him to it. He flew up into the air and smashed Zeus back to the ground with a single blow from Mjolnir.

“Why are you helping us?” Superman asked.

“I am aiding you in avenging your friend, he seemed an honourable man.”

“He was.”

The two powerhouses dropped down to earth with the rest of the team. Zeus had snapped Batman’s cable tying his arms together, but Supergirl had his left arm in a vice while Shazam and Flash were holding down his right and Hulk pinned his legs. Annabeth then ran up, jumped on Zeus’s face and slammed her dagger into the middle of his forehead. Batman launched himself up onto Zeus’s neck and caught the sword that Percy threw up to him. Batman placed the sword at Zeus’s throat and said.

“Give me one good reason I don’t slit your throat right now.”

“Because my brethren would destroy you in revenge.”

“I’m not so sure. Half of the Olympians have already left, and the other half haven’t raised a finger to help you, so, to be honest, I don’t think you’ve been the stellar ruler you think you’ve been. Even your own son isn’t raising a hand to help you.” Batman said.

Zeus’s eyes rolled to the right where Jason was standing next to the other demigods. He looked ashamed.

“You really believe you can kill me?”

“Do you want to find out?”

 

* * *

 

A groan from Katelyn’s left caused her to look up and see a woman with dark brown hair lying at the edge of the crater, lying unconscious next to her was a young girl no older than five with dirty blonde hair.

“He..r..e” the woman croaked. Katelyn let go of Josh’s hand and moved towards the woman. She had a metal pole sticking straight out of her chest, and numerous other pieces of shrapnel pinning her to the ground.

“It’s okay, I’ll get you some help,” Katelyn said raising her hand and waving it around.

“No.” She said, “I can feel it. My heart… isn’t beating. I’m dead already.”

Katelyn wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that. If the woman’s heart weren't beating, then she wouldn’t be talking.

“But he isn’t. He could… survive this. I can… help.”

“How?” Katelyn asked jumping at the hope. The woman used her left hand to pull back the right sleeve of her shirt. Sitting on her right forearm was an intricate and gorgeous silver bracelet that went from her wrist to the middle of her forearm.

“The bracelet. That’s what’s… keeping… me alive. Take it off my… wrist. Put it on his. It won’t… let him die.”

Katelyn didn’t like it, but she tried to look into the woman’s mind to see if she was telling the truth, but, she couldn’t get in. It was as if there was a shield preventing her from… Oh god, she had to be telling the truth.

Wait, “but if I take it off you, you’ll die won’t you?”

“I’m already… dead. The bracelet won’t let him die. Get him to a… hospital. He could… make… it. Not even that Dr Strange fellow… could help me now. Just… promise me, you’ll look after… her.” She pointed her hand towards the little girl.

“Her names Cassie… tell her I love her and that… I’m sorry I never gave her a… life that she… deserved.”

With that, the woman moved her right arm slightly and used the left to unclasp the bracelet. As soon as it fell off her arm, her head fell back and hit the ground. She was dead.

Katelyn looked in shock between the bracelet and the woman. She was telling the truth all right. Katelyn immediately picked up the bracelet and placed it on her lap. Then she wheeled over to the unconscious little girl – Cassie, the woman had said her name was – and used all the upper arm strength that she had developed over the past eight years to lift the girl off the ground and place her on her lap. Kate then wheeled herself back down into the crater next to Josh.

She leant down over the injured girl on her lap and reached for Josh’s un-burnt arm. It was incredibly difficult, but she knew that this miracle bracelet was his only hope, so she put all her willpower into reaching for his arm.

“Come on, Come on! Ehhh!”

She slipped the bracelet around his wrist and heard it click into place.

“Got it!” Kate watched as the bracelet began to glow a faint silver light. Then she noticed a similar but gold light emitting from an identical but gold bracelet on Cassie’s arm. He was alive. Barely and probably not for long, but he was alive.

 

 


	16. A Light Show Makes Me Taller

Justice League Vol 3 (#20) Heroes vs Gods - Part 9

#  A Light Show Makes Me Taller

**Columbia University, Morningside Heights,**

**New York City**

**August 3 rd, 2025, 9:21 pm**

“Do you want to find out?” Batman told Zeus, adding pressure to Percy’s bronze sword and drawing a few drops of golden blood.

Suddenly everyone in the quad was bathed in a silvery blue light. Batman turned his head and saw that in the middle of the field a blue portal was slowly swirling into being. It looked like it was made of swirling blue water and a soft silver vapour was drifting out of the event horizon. Then someone jumped out holding their hands up in the air.

It was a man with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a black combat uniform with a gun holster and a holster for a small cylindrical silver device. Over his heart was the same symbol on Josh’s shoulder. A three-armed star with a broken forth arm. The strangest thing was that he looked identical to Josh.

“Don’t kill him!” He yelled.

“Who the hell are you!” Superman yelled from where he was floating above Zeus.

“My name is Riker Celestial; I’m the Co-leader of a rapid response team and I need you not to kill him. At least until I can explain why you shouldn’t.”

 

Everyone was silent.

 

“He speaks the truth friends. I know the Celestials very well.” Thor said.

“Ok talk. Why shouldn’t we kill him? He killed our friend!” Bruce said.

“Because your friend isn’t dead, at least not yet. And if you kill him there will be a war across the Twelve Realms that will claim the lives of billions.” Riker said.

“What do you mean, the Dragon isn’t dead?” Flash said.

“If he has been wearing that ring that I gave him eight years ago then he should have energy built up for one regeneration,” Celestial said, “Let my team secure the area and take Zeus into custody. We’ll deal with him.”

“Oh my god!” Supergirl said looking at the man in shock realising who he was.

“It’s your call, Batman,” Superman said.

Bruce quickly thought over everything that had happened over the past minute. Then he made an executive decision.

He pulled back the sword and slid down off Zeus’s neck and onto the ground. He handed the sword back to Percy and walked up to the man.

“Take him, but tell us how to save the Dragon.”

“Done deal. All I have to do is touch him. Physical contact with an Asmerian should be enough to start the process.” Riker touched a button on his watch, and five individuals jumped out of the portal and secured Zeus. One person, a woman with long blond hair and green eyes ran over and snapper her fingers over Zeus’s giant form.

Zeus instantly shrunk back to normal size. She then slapped a set of futuristic handcuffs on him and had a bald man with a strange tattoo pull him up and march him towards the portal. The bald dude and the blonde pushed him through the portal before following behind him. The few remaining Olympians quickly vanished after a man with short black hair stood, with a very large gun, and told them to “fuck off”.

Another man with dark hair and glasses walked up to Odin and said, “Want a lift back to Asgard?”

“Thank you for the offer Daniel Jackson, but we can get back on our own.”

A beam of light shot out of the sky and absorbed all the Asgardians save Thor, who remained behind and followed the Justice League and the Demigods, who were following Riker Celestial as he ran towards the evac site.

 

* * *

 

 

The group arrived at the site where the Dragon crashed and looked in horror at what they saw. Katelyn was sitting in her chair with an unconscious little girl on her lap next to Josh who was lying in the crater very badly injured and barely breathing.

Katelyn looked up as she saw the League and the Demigods approach. The sixteen individuals panned out and surrounded the crater while Riker moved down the bank and took Josh’s hand.

“The bracelet what is it?” He asked Katelyn.

“I don’t know.” Katelyn seemed to hesitate before answering.

“What do you mean? How did it get there?” the Asmerian asked.

Katelyn wiped away her tears and gasped, “You’re, you’re him!”

“How?”

“Um, I don’t know... It flew from over there and latched onto his arm,” Katelyn said.

Riker left Katelyn and looked at the bracelet.

“Ok, um, the tech looks Inhuman in design but disguised as an Ancient Greek bracelet. Interesting…”

“Can you, do it? Can you save him?” Kara asked.

“I can’t save him; he needs to save himself. All I can do is give him a boost.” Riker said. Then he reached out and touched Josh’s forehead, instantly there was a spark of white energy, and the Asmerian pulled his hand back.

“That should do it.” He said taking Josh’s unburnt hand and turning it over looking at the palm. Barry speeded up behind him and looked over his shoulder. He saw that the hand was starting to glow with white light.

“Everybody get back!” Riker yelled.

“Why?” Barry asked.

“It can be quite explosive.” He then ran out of the crater and stood a fair bit back. Everybody else complied, Flash moved Katelyn and the child on her lap out of the way as well.

 

By now everyone could see the white glow coming off the Dragon’s body.

“Come on. Come on…” Celestial was whispering.

Suddenly the golden light seemed to start exploding out from his whole body.

“Yes!”

Annabeth watched as Josh’s body seemed to grow taller, and his shoulders seemed to become broader and his hair darker. The light grew more intense as the seconds wore on before it released from his entire body in the form of a shockwave. The wave of light blew passed everyone like wind, blowing hair in faces forcing people back slightly. Cassie, the little girl on Katelyn’s lap, decided that was the best moment to wake up.

“What’s going on, where am I,” she asked. The little girl jumped down from Katelyn’s chair but tripped on a loose rock and slid down into the crater. She stopped at the bottom next to Josh’s body. Both the League and the Demigods were amazed by what they saw. Josh had indeed grown taller, and his shoulders were also broader. His skin tone was slightly darker, more olive skinned than it was before, his hair colour had changed from brown to black, and his eyes had changed from light brown to a deep river blue. His face shape, however, was still the same, and all his injuries had miraculously healed. However, he still wasn’t moving.

Cassie reached out and touched Josh’s hand. When she did, the two bracelets glowed, and Josh sat bolt up upright.

“Hooyayayaaaowweyy. Whooh. That was something I never want to do again. Wow. I feel really weird.”

Everybody started laughing, even Cassie.

 

I looked up and saw the entire League and the Demigods and Thor all standing around me. Then I saw him.

“You! It’s you? How the hell can you be here? You, you died and… what?” I tried to stand up but fell back over, eliciting another laugh from everyone.

“Hmm. Interesting you mustn’t have had enough stored energy to complete the regeneration phase.”

“Josh are you okay?” Katelyn asked confused.

“Um, I think so.” I managed to stand up without falling over again. Then I noticed that little girl I saved earlier standing next to me in the crater.

“Oh hey, it’s you again. Cassie, wasn’t it? What are you doing down here?” I put her hand on her shoulder, and the bracelets glowed again.

“Ok, that’s weird how did that get there?”

“That’s my mum’s bracelet?” Cassie said confused.

The guy that gave me the ring that should have been dead slid down into the crater and walked over to Cassie and me.

“That’s your mum’s bracelet? Can you take us to her?”

“Um, I don’t know how I got here,” Cassie said.

Kate spoke up.

“I brought you here. I found you unconscious in the rubble, so I picked you up. I didn’t want you to wake up alone.” She said with a weak smile. She’s hiding something was the thought that went through my head. I know Katelyn. And I know when she isn’t telling the whole truth.

“I was with my mum, and then the rocks fell from the sky, I dropped to the ground but I… I hit my head.” She said.

“I can take you to where I found you,” Katelyn said.

 

Kate showed us where she had found the girl. The woman lying a short distance away was her mum. I recognised her from before, but Cassie’s response made it clear to everybody else. She ran over to her mum, dropped to her knees and began crying.

I walked over to her and kneeled down next to her, “I’m sorry sweetie. It hurts. Trust me I know. If you need a shoulder to cry on, I’m here.” I said. Cassie launched herself at me and began sobbing into my tattered shirt.

 

“Well this is all very heartfelt, but I have places to be,” Riker said. I placed my arms around Cassie so I could stand up without dropping her and turned to face him.

“Uh-uh, Mr. You ain’t going anywhere until I get some answers. Who are you? Where do you come from? Why do you look like me? What is the ring for? Why did you give it to me? How does it work?” I said.

“Those are some hard questions to answer and eventually you will get the answers you seek. But time travel is a dangerous thing, and I can’t risk the time stream by telling you. I will tell you this though. I am not the person who gave you that ring. Well, I am, but I’m not. It's complicated. I haven’t given you the Ring yet so to speak. The version of me that gave you that ring is a future version of me. I haven’t done it yet. You’ll be meeting me again soon, but I won’t be seeing you again for a very long time. Now I’d love to stay and continue chatting, but I have to go deal with Zeus. I will tell you this, though. Your original ring shattered into seven pieces. Each piece has restored itself somewhat. Seven pieces turned into seven rings, keyed to seven different emotions. If I were you, my next step would be to go after those rings and catch them before they find bearers. You don’t want Rage, Greed, Fear or Will to fall into the wrong hands. Oh, and you might need this.” Riker took something out of his pocket and threw it to me. I caught it with my spare hand and looked down to see a white ring, an exact replica of the original one.

“Try not to break this one.” He said before opening a portal and stepping through, the gateway snapping shut behind him. The ring floated up out of my hand and levitated in the air. Knowing what was about to happen, I let Cassie down and put her on the ground. Everyone, even Cassie, watched as the ring spoke.

_“Josh O’Neill. You have the ability to master the Emotional Spectrum. Bonding process initiated.”_

It slipped on my finger and just like last time, white energy exploded from the ring grafting over my body like burning hot wax, this time, however, the pain was bearable. The energy solidified into a replica of my old suit.

“Good to be back.”

 

 


	17. When All is Said and Done

Legend Comics Vol 3 (#18) Heroes vs Gods – Epilogue

#  When All Is Said and Done

 

**Columbia University, Morningside Heights,**

**New York City**

**August 3 rd, 2025, 9:35 pm**

 

“This is Lester Holt with NBC Nightly News. We interrupt your scheduled programs to bring you this breaking news story from Columbia University in New York City. Johnathan Dienst has the story.”

 

“Hi, Lester. I’m standing outside Columbia University here in New York where a large-scale conflict involving the Justice League and three other groups of powered peoples has just been concluded. At this moment in time, we have precious little information about what has happened here as no one except emergency services have been allowed inside. What we do know is that there are a large number of people who have received major injuries and that the Justice League were not the main combatants in this fight but were rather here trying to contain the violence and get people out of harm's way.”

 

“Do we have any idea who these other powered individuals might be?”

 

“Not yet. No one here has been able to talk to any witnesses to the attack as of yet, as the police have the entire area sealed off and all aerial vehicles in the city have been grounded. The only vehicles that have been allowed to leave the premises have been ambulances.”

 

“Can we be…”

 

“Hold on their Lester, it looks like the Dragon will be giving a statement.”

 

“Dragon!”

“Dragon!”

“Dragon!”

 

“Ok. Everybody quiet down. I’ve just gotten off the phone with the President and the Director of National Security at the Pentagon, and I have been cleared to give a statement and answer some questions. I am going to start by confirming for you all right now that tonight's incident did involve two races of extra-terrestrial beings. These beings have visited our planet numerous times over the past few thousands of years, and our ancestors called them gods. Since then they have fallen into our myths and legends, but they didn’t just magically disappear. They have been there manipulating our history since the days of Ancient Greece and the Vikings. These two groups, the Asgardians and the Olympians, have had a truce since the early 800’s. Today that truce was broken when Zeus, the leader of the Olympians, betrayed the others and started a war between the two races. Fortunately, the Justice League with the aid of another group of individuals were able to prevent the conflict from expanding into the city proper and putting millions of lives at risk. But war is not without casualties. 15 men and woman lost their lives here tonight. 15 bright flames that were snuffed by the ego of a man who believed himself a god.”

 

“Dragon!”

“Dragon!”

 

“Um, you with the NBC microphone.”

 

“You mentioned a second group that helped you and the rest of the Justice League prevent more casualties, can you tell us who they were?”

 

“The group that aided us are known as Demigods. Decedents of the Olympians who are half human and half Olympian. Some of them discovered Zeus’s intentions and attempted to warn us of Zeus’s actions before they occurred. The Demigods who helped us have agreed to give an in-depth interview to a news reporter that will be televised live to the world. A network will be chosen by the Demigods at a later date.

 

“Dragon!”

“Dragon!”

 

“Can you tell us why the two sides were fighting each other and why the fight happened here?”

 

“Me. They were actually fighting over me. Zeus wanted my powers for himself and believed that by killing me, the power would transfer to him. Not entirely sure where he got that idea. The fight started when Zeus attacked the Asgardian Prince Thor, who was sent by his father to warn me of Zeus’s impending attack. Why the university? It was purely by chance.”

 

“I ask you to please give the families of those who have lost their lives here tonight space to grieve and respect witnesses who are in shock and want their privacy. Now I would love to stay and chat, but I have something else I need to see to. Thank you for your time.”

 

“Well, you heard it here. The Greek and Norse Gods are actually aliens that our ancestors believed were gods. Today those two forces came to a head, but thanks to the efforts of the Justice League and a group of powered individuals known as Demigods crisis was averted. Back to you Lester.”

 

“Thanks, Jonathan. We will keep you up to date with this story as it continues to develop. This is Lester Holt with NBC Nightly News.”

 

* * *

**5 Minutes Later**

 

“Nice job,” Kate said as a walked back over to where she was sitting with Batman and Banner.

“Have the others found anything yet?”

“Nothing. Stark’s trying to configure his satellite to search for the rings various energy signatures but isn’t having much luck.” Batman said with a sigh.

“Ok. Where’s Cassie?”

“Paramedics came and took her to the hospital, from there she’ll give her statement to the police, and I imagine she’ll go into a foster home. Poor kid, she’s got a rough few years ahead of her.” Banner explained. I ran a hand through my hair and sat down on the ground.

_‘No,” Katelyn's voice echoed through my head._

‘ _Why not? You heard what Banner said. She’s just lost her mum, the only family she has. She has no one to turn to. She’s going to be put into foster care, if she’s lucky she might get adopted. You and I both lost our parents at a young age, we both know what it feels like. To have no one to turn to. We can help her. We have the money. We have space. What do you have against it?’_

_‘I just thought. I thought we were going to try for our own soon. I mean the wedding is a month away, and we always talked about having kids and I…’_ She trailed off and didn’t complete the thought.

_‘Who says we can’t?’_

_‘If we did then we wouldn’t be giving her our full attention. We would have our own child, a baby to deal with and I worry that I wouldn’t be able to give her all the love that she deserves.’ Kate said._

I contemplated that for a few seconds before answering.

_‘What about a year?’_

_‘What?’_

_‘The wedding is on October 20 th. Our honeymoon takes two weeks after that. Then December. We go home. Back to Australia and we take her with us. She can celebrate an Australian Christmas, with sausages on the BBQ and a swim at the beach. Then we come back and settle down a bit. Then October. Next October we try for a kid of our own. With our help she would have adjusted by then,’ I could tell Katelyn was on the verge of agreeing, ‘She’s five years old, and she needs help. She doesn’t need a superhero, she needs a mum and dad.’_

Katelyn was silent for a long time.

“Ok. We’ll do it.”

“Do what?” Batman asked.

We both turned towards Bruce with questioning looks on our faces.

“Oh you were having a mental conversation weren’t you?” He said raising his eyebrow under the cowl. We both blushed.

“We um… We decided that rather than let Cassie get absorbed by the system we would adopt her instead.” I told him.

“That's a good idea, it allows us to keep those bracelets of yours together,” Bats said. Kate and I shared a brief look and Batman rolled his eyes.

“That thought never even crossed your minds, did it? You're doing it solely out of the kindness of your hearts.” Both of our eyes dropped to our feet. Little did I know that Batman’s thoughts had drifted to a young boy whom he had taken in as his ward about ten years ago. Dick Grayson.

 

“Guy’s my amazing genius may have something for you.” Stark’s voice echoed through the communicator.

“Where?” I said, hand going to my ear.

“All over the place. I’m sending out GPS locations.”

 

I blasted off the ground and flew at top speed towards the southern side of the island, leaving Batman, Banner and Kate on the ground.

 

“Justice League! I want every flyer we have on this. Target the orange and the yellow first, followed by the red and green.” I locked onto the orange light speeding away and bolted after it. It was headed south, and fast.

 

I was flying faster than the speed of sound. The orange ring getting closer and closer to its destination. I was so close, I could see it hovering just out of reach. I sacrificed my speed to try and trap it in a containment bubble. It worked, and the ring became trapped.

“Ring is there a way to disable the orange rings search function?” I yelled desperately.

“Yes.”

“Do it.” The ring was starting to shatter my construct.

“Search function disabled. Avarice Power Ring Offline.” The ring shut down and fell to the bottom of my bubble.

“Guys I’ve got the orange ring,” I said with relief in my voice.

“This is Superman. I’m tracking a green, and a violet-headed west.”

“This is Thor. I have lost the red ring. However, it was headed north.”

“Does anybody have eyes on the yellow one?” I yelled, “Kara, Shazam?”

Everything was silent.

 

Then suddenly the comms crackled back to life.

  
“I’m sorry Dragon. S.H.I.E.L.D. has the yellow ring.” Kara said.

“What!”

“Shazam was tailing it as it flew east. It was flying over an aircraft carrier. He got hit by some sort of a bullet shot from the carrier. The ring then flew down towards the ship. I flew up and caught Billy and used my vision to see the logo on the carrier. It was S.H.I.E.L.D. I’m sorry Josh.”

I sighed and started flying back towards the university.

 

 

* * *

**13th October 2025**

 

“Thank you so much for your help Sam,” I said to my good friend Sam Seaborne as we walked out of the courtroom.

“Hey, anything for a friend. I’m just glad I could help. Family Law is not my forte. Luckily I only needed a basic understanding.” He said. We walked down the stairs and moved towards our respective cars.

“So when are you going to pick her up?” Sam asked as he unlocked his car.

“Now. Hey, you're coming to the wedding, right?” I said.

“Of course.”

“Alright then. I’ll see you there.”

“See you, man,” Sam said and drove away. A smile bloomed on my face before I launched into the sky, scaring the shit out of the man and his dog that were walking behind me.

 

_‘So did we get custody?’_ Katelyn’s thoughts rippled through my brain.

_‘Yep, the judge cleared the final adoption paperwork. I am headed to the foster centre now. Cassie and her temporary carers should be there.’_

_‘Ok just remember that you will need a car to pick her up in. You can't just fly her out.’_

_‘Wanna bet on that?’_

_‘Josh…’_

_‘Don’t worry I know what I'm doing.’_

I landed outside the centre, careful to make sure I was out of sight of bystanders and CCTV. The New York State Foster Care Department Headquarters was located on Long Island in an old colonial manor that had been purchased by the government and renovated about five years ago, it served as a place where a large number of kids that passed through it could be sufficiently housed and cared for. It was also where Cassie had been staying here since her mum's death in what was being called the Battle of Gods.

 

I walked up the road to the front entrance to the building and knocked on the door. A raven-haired woman of about 40 wearing denim jeans and a white t-shirt answered.

“Oh Josh, it’s good to see you, everything went smoothly I assume?”

“Yep. I have the final paperwork signed by the judge right here, Mrs Miller.” I said handing over the folder in my hands and following her inside.

“Well, everything seems to be in order then. You know where Cassie’s room is. Mackenzie and Ryan are up there right now. Just show them the file and Cassie is free to leave with you. Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” I walked up the entry staircase and down the main dormitory hallway. I reached Cassie’s room and knocked. It was quickly opened by Mackenzie, a volunteer worker who had been assigned to Cassie by the department. I had met her several times when coming to visit Cassie.

 

The first time Katelyn and I had visited Cassie after the battle had been interesting, to say the least. We had visited her in the hospital, and luckily she recognised us as soon as we entered the room. She had jumped off the bed, causing the nurse, who was drawing some blood from her arm, to fall back from the wheelie seat and drop the needle to the floor. The girl had then run around the bed, jumped into my arms and burying her head in my shoulder. Katelyn found the scene incredibly adorable. It also served to remove any lingering doubts she may have had about adopting her. We took Cassie for a walk through Central Park. The little girl needed a change of scenery from the garish white of the hospital she and all the rest of the witnesses of the battle had been brought to after their evacuation. No one was allowed to be discharged until Stark had a chance to scan everyone for signs of contamination by the radiation emitted by monsters and gods. Annabeth had called it ‘Monster Dust’ or just ‘dust’. Stark as you can imagine blankly refused to call anything ‘Monster Dust’ so Annabeth, Stark and Banner had decided on the name Delta Radiation in honour of the Ancient Greek scientist and architect Daedalus, who per a magic laptop had been the first to discover its existence, much to Starks annoyance. It didn’t stop him from patenting it, though.

 

We were on Bow Bridge when we broke the news. I will always remember the moment.

Katelyn was using the motor on her chair and had stopped in the middle of the bridge. The park was for the most part deserted. Apparently, the city getting attacked by aliens who are actually what most of human mythology was based on was an incentive to stay home. The religious community was in outrage. Cassie and I stood next to her, looking out over the lake.

“Cassie, we know you don’t know us really well, and we don’t know you really well either but we would like to ask you something.”

“What?” She said, blue eyes twinkling in curiosity.

 

I sank to my knees and took her small hands in mine. Kate turned around and put a hand on my shoulder.

“We don’t want you to think that we’re trying to replace your mum. Or that we’re doing this out of any sense of guilt for what happened. Because we’re not. We are doing this because you’ve made an incredible impression on our hearts in such a short amount of time.” Kate said.

“What is it.” Cassie looked incredibly confused and touched at the same time.

“We would like your permission to adopt you,” I told her, my eyes never leaving her. A number of different emotions were visible on Cassie’s face. Shock, surprise, relief, excitement and finally… fear.

“Really?” She sounded scared.

“What’s wrong?” I asked softly.

_“She’s scared that she’s going to lose everything again,”_ Kate told me telepathically. She sounded like she was tearing up.

“Hey, Sweetheart you’re not going to lose us. If we go through with this, we’ll be a family, which means we will always be there for you, no matter what. You're not going to lose us, that’s a promise.” I told her.

Cassie started crying and threw herself at me, burying her face in my shoulder and hugging me as tight as she could.

“Thank you.” She whispered quietly. The next few weeks were a blur. I contacted a uni friend of mine to help get the adoption papers through as soon as possible which led to where I am right now.

 

Mackenzie had been helping Cassie adjust to her situation in the Foster centre. Without her, the process would have been much harder. She was incredibly caring and did as much for Cassie as she could.

“Mackenzie.”

“Everything works out?” She asked. She was happy for Cassie but also a little upset that she wouldn’t be able to see her every day from now on.

“Greenlight. Everything worked out perfectly.” I told her with a smile.

“Josh?” I heard Cassie’s voice from inside the room.

“It’s me,” I said, moving passed Mackenzie and into the room, where Mackenzie’s boyfriend Ryan was helping Cassie pack her bag. Katelyn and I had brought her back to the hotel room in New York that she had been staying to retrieve her things. Ever since she had been born Cassie had been moving from country to country following her Mum from Archaeological did to dig. Because she moved around a lot, she had never had a lot of personal items, but we were happy we were able to get the few things that she did have and give them back to her.

 

Upon seeing me, Cassie jumped off the bed she was standing on and ran over to me, jumping up and attaching herself to me in the way I had become so fond of in such a short time.

She dropped back to the ground and looked up at me with excitement in her eyes.

“So can I come home with you?!” She asked bouncing up and down.”

“You sure can!” I told her with a massive smile.

“Eeeeek!” Cassie squealed and jumped at me so fast she knocked me over, and we both collided with Mackenzie. The result was the three of us laughing hysterically from our position on the hard floor.

 

We had to stop ourselves from laughing before we could get up off the ground.

“So, all your bags packed?” I asked. It was Ryan who answered.

“Everything’s packed no need to worry.”

“Brilliant.”

I picked up the bag and walked out holding Cassie’s hand. Mackenzie and Ryan followed us out.

 

We stopped in the main car park.

“Thank you again for everything you’ve done for Cassie Mackenzie.”

“Don’t mention it. I just have one favour I wanted to ask you.”

“Name it.”

“Can I come around every once and a while to see how she’s doing?”

“Come by whenever you want,” I told her. She smiled and crouched down to Cassie’s level.

“I’m going miss seeing your smiling face every day, but I want you to know that I hope you have an awesome life and that I’ll be seeing you soon.”

Cassie gave her a massive hug before parting and taking my hand again.

“Thanks, Mackenzie.” She said with a smile and a wave.

Mackenzie and Ryan turned around and started walking back into the house. About halfway there she realised she hadn’t heard a car start.

“Hey, how are you guys leaving?” Mackenzie asked turning around.

Cassie and I had just reached the main gate. We turned around, and with a wink to Cassie I called back.

“In style!”

I transferred a jolt of power to Cassie via her hand, and we lifted off the ground and into the sky. Mackenzie and Ryan watched in shock.

“This is so cool!” Cassie yelled.

During our various meetings since the battle. Kate, Cassie and I had bonded over flying. By extending my power to the others, we could all fly together, where ever we wanted. Cassie seemed to have a fixation with the sky. She loved watching the clouds scuttle across the blue expanse, and she frequently asked to come outside and stargaze at night. So, for her, there was nothing more amazing than flying.

“Catch me if you can!” With that, Cassie blasted off towards the city. I nodded down to Mackenzie and Ryan before flying off with a sonic boom in the direction of my newly adopted daughter.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: So that concludes the Heroes Vs Gods Story Arc, I hope you all enjoyed it, I certainly enjoyed writing it. The next Story Arc is my first “Event” so get ready for Legend of the Dragon: The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. The first chapter/issue of the new arc is titled Project Clean-Slate so take from that what you will.   
> Reviews and criticisms are widely appreciated and desired.


	18. Fall of SHIELD Part 1 Project Clean-Slate

 

Event -  Justice League: The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. (#1)

#  Legend of the Dragon:

# The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D

 

## 

* * *

##  Project Clean-Slate

 

**Metropolis**

**November 12 TH, 2026, 7:00pm**

 

Clark landed outside the warehouse confused. He had received a police report saying that a warehouse had caught on fire. Now that he was here and there was clearly no fire, and no evidence there had ever been one. He tried to x-ray the building but found the walls lined with lead. Frowning he opened a small side door and walked inside. There were numerous large shelves with cardboard boxes on them. Clark made his way to a wide-open space in the middle of the room. He looked around again. ‘Must have been a prank call’ he decided. He was about to leave when he suddenly felt very sick in the stomach. Where had he felt that before? Then he heard the gunshot. Normally Clark would have just let is bounce off him. But everything was starting to add up. He spun around and caught the green glowing bullet centimetres from his face. Kryptonite. He used his x-ray vision to find the sniper. He was up in a ‘nest’ in the roof. On his vest was a S.H.I.E.L.D. motif.

 

Clark launched himself off the ground and straight through the roof. If S.H.I.E.L.D. were willing to come after him, then he wasn’t the only one who had been targeted. He tapped his small inner ear com and alerted the rest of the team.

“Justice League, this is Superman. I was just attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. Be on high alert and get somewhere safe.”

 

* * *

**Metropolis University, Western Metropolis**

**November 12 th 2026, 6:30pm**

 

Lizzy Bakersfield was chatting with her BFF Cindy Sanderson while her date, the football quarterback Tommy Glockman, grabbed them some drinks. There was supposed to be no alcohol, but, after some ‘persuasion’ the drinks tender brought in some and would switch out your soda for something with a little more kick if you had the right passcode.

“So did you hear about Talia and Simon hooking up?” Cindy was saying.

“Yeh, I heard about that. Talia is such a slut.” Lizzy said in reply.

“I know right.”

 

Suddenly the entire room went quiet.

“What the hell is going on,” Lizzy said. Cindy just shrugged. Lizzy began pushing her way towards the main entrance, where all the commotion seemed to be coming from. When Lizzy and her posse eventually made it to the front, they were speechless.

An absolutely gorgeous tall brown haired green eyed guy was standing under the archway at the main entrance. He was wearing a full tuxedo with a deep blue tie. His hair was all over the place like he had just been running through a strong wind. His jaw was incredibly square with the smallest trace of hair on his face. And anybody with a brain in their head could tell he was incredibly cut. Lizzy was spellbound. Then she noticed he wasn’t alone. On his arm was a figure slightly shorter than he was, with long blonde curls falling down onto her shoulders. She was wearing a deep blue satin single strap gown with small silver threads woven into it. The silver strands caught the light and reflected it, dazzling anyone who looked close enough. She was beautiful, there was no other word for it. Lizzy was completely stunned.

 

“Kara?” a dark-skinned kid with short dreadlocks asked. He was wearing a suit too; a raven-haired girl in a deep pink gown was standing at his side.

“Hey, Ben. Hey, Tris.” Kara said giving them a wave.

“Kara Danvers,” Lizzy said with more venom in her voice than a viper's bite.

“Lizzy,” Kara said simply, with no emotion in her voice what so ever.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“Of course, how silly of me. This is Barry Allen. Barry that’s Lizzy Bakersfield, our _beloved_ college queen.” Kara made sure to put significant emphasis on the word beloved. Many people snickered at the word. Lizzy was starting to get angry.

“Nice to meet you.” The gorgeous hunk said with a smile.

“So, Barry. How on earth did Kara convince you to come with her? Does she pay you? Or are you just her cousin?” Lizzy said, putting on an innocent smile.

“Kara is my girlfriend, why wouldn’t I want to come with her?” the hunk said, a dangerous undercurrent to his voice. Lizzy didn’t pick up on it.

“Seriously. Surely you can do better than her.” Lizzy said with a raised eyebrow. Mr Hunky needed to learn his place. This was her school. Just because he was gorgeous and would probably be on top of her before morning didn’t mean he could talk to her like that.

“Somehow I doubt that very much.” The hunk told her in reply. The tone was much more evident that time. Most people would have backed off at this point. But Lizzy was angry and drunk.

“I’m sure I can change your mind.” Lizzy flirted and batted her eyelashes.

“I think I’ll pass. What’s everyone standing around here for anyway? Let’s get the music going!” the hunk yelled the last two sentences so that the DJ could hear him. The DJ, who was obviously incredibly stupid, took that as a hint and hit up the music again, launching into Katy Perry’s hit single from 2017, Chained to the Rhythm. He would get a talking to later. Kara and her ‘boyfriend’ walked over to join Kara’s friends Ben and Tris – Lizzy had long ago dubbed the three people the heads of what she called the nerd plague and had set out to make their lives miserable.

Once they were out of earshot, Cindy whispered in her ear, “Wow. You just got rebuffed by hotty hotness there. What are you going to do about it?”

“I am going to make Danvers pay.”

 

Kara was in awe of Barry right now. Not only was he an awesome dancer and a brilliant boyfriend, but he had stood up for her in front of Lizzy. Kara had lost count of how many times she had wanted to strangle that bitch or throw her into space with her super strength. Barry had put her in her place for what Kara thought was the first time ever! Since Lizzy’s initial rebuff she hadn’t reared her ugly head, and the dance had been really fun. Ben and Tris of course already knew Barry, he had used his superspeed to visit her often since they had started dating after Josh and Katelyn’s wedding. She had also flown over to Central City a number of times and visited Barry’s set up. Team Flash consisted of Barry’s high school friend Caitlin Snow, who was training to become a bioengineer, his roommate and best friend Cisco Ramon, and his foster father, Joe. The group had set up their secret headquarters in the ruins of the S.T.A.R. Labs facility that had exploded giving Barry his powers in the first place. The four had made it quite homey.

 

Everything went downhill when Barry left to go to the bathroom.

As soon as Barry was out of earshot, Tris let out a very uncharacteristic eek.

“You look so gorgeous! I told you it was worth coming and oh my god did you see Lizzy’s face when you showed up with Barry?”

“Yes, it was nice to see her taken down a peg for once,” Kara stated. Suddenly a slow clap could be heard from behind them. Lizzy was standing there with her entire posse and most of the football team. Kara thought Lizzy looked hideous. She was dressed like a bloody porn star. That very short dress left very little to the imagination. On Krypton she would have been shamed and sent to the Church of Rao for conditioning for dressing like that.

“Well, well, well. Little, dorky Kara Danvers. Don’t you clean up nice.”

Kara spun around and addressed her arch enemy face to face. Normally she would never do what she was about to do. But, right now Kara felt amazing, she felt gorgeous, and she felt powerful as Kara Danvers, rather than Supergirl. No way she was going to back down now.

“Thanks, Lizzy. You don’t look too shabby yourself. If you don’t mind me saying so, I suggest you cover up a bit before you go outside. It’s a bit breezy, and I don’t think that skirts going to cover much if the wind decides to ah blow in the right direction. You know what I mean?”

The entire hall went silent.

“What did you just say?” Lizzy said, her eyes threatening murder.

“I was just giving you some helpful advice,” Kara said innocently. Lizzy flushed bright red and took a step forward.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into your head to make you think that you can challenge me, Danvers. But I hope you know. I am going to make your next weeks at this university a living hell!” Lizzy yelled.

“Good luck with that. We’ll see who gets the better result in this year's exams shall we.” Kara said, she put her hand on her hip and fired Lizzy’s gaze right back at her.

“You little bitch!!” Lizzy pulled her hand back and was about to slap Kara in the face. Kara wasn’t fazed, Lizzy would simply shatter every bone in her hand. But the slap never came. Instead, Barry used his superspeed to return just at the right moment to catch her hand before it even made it there.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” Barry exclaimed. The guy was seriously pissed off.

“Let go of Lizzy now, or we’ll make you do it.” Tommy Glockman said, balling his hands into fists as he said it.

Barry looked to Kara with a raised eyebrow. He was asking what she wanted him to do? Okay, that was seriously romantic, Kara thought.

“Let him have it,” Kara said with a wink.

“I think it’s about time this got settled don’t you,” Barry said, addressing his statement to Lizzy and Tommy.

A number of things happened at once. Tommy threw a punch at Barry. Barry used his speed to dodge. Tommy’s fist went wide and swung around hitting Lizzy smack bang in the face. The punch may or may not have been subtly guided by Barry and Kara moving at superspeed. Ah, the benefits of being a superhero.

The crack of Lizzy’s nose was very loud, but the scream that she released dwarfed it by a mile.

“I am so sorry,” Tommy yelled.

“Urghhh!!!!!! You idiot!!!!” Lizzy yelled.

“Liz!” Lizzy’s BFF Cindy exclaimed, before grabbing and pulling her away into the crowd.

Then the crowd started clapping and screaming in celebration.

 

The rest of the night went off without much of a hitch. Well until the clock hit 7:00 pm that is.

 

Kara and Barry were dancing together in the middle of the hall.

“Thank you so much for everything you’ve done tonight,” Kara said to her amazing boyfriend.

“Don’t thank me. You told me about Lizzy. She had it coming.”

“Well, I’m sure there’s plenty of other things you can accept a thank you for?” Kara said flirtatiously.

“We might be able to come to an agreement.” Barry agreed.

“Oh really.” Kara hooked her arms around Barry’s neck and gave him a deep kiss. A number of bystanders took live photos and videos. The two secret heroes parted and gave each other floppy sideways grins. Then Ben’s watch beeped.

 

A window shattered, and Kara collapsed into Barry’s arms. Then another window shattered, and Barry yelled out in pain. Barry fell to his knees, Kara dropping to the ground unconscious next to him. Ben watched in horror as golden electricity began sparking off Barry. The lightning-sparked around the two as if it were protecting them, but Barry was visibly shaking. Ben could see a red cylindrical object sticking out of Barry’s back. What the hell is that?

Meanwhile, Tris was watching blood begin to pool beneath Kara’s body. She could see two entry wounds and a green glow coming out of the openings.

Barry had never felt this much pain before. It was absolutely excruciating. But he could feel something else too. The Speed-Force. It was calling to him. Trying to help him. Barry managed to move his head to see Kara’s form lying on the ground. That galvanised him into action. Barry began to move his hand toward the device attached to his back. Every move was painful. It was like his muscles were seizing up, but every time they did, the Speed Force would compensate and let him move his arm just that little bit further. After what felt like hours but in reality was only thirty seconds, Barry reached the device and pulled it out from his back and dropped it on the floor. As soon as it came out, he could move his muscles again. Three men dressed in S.H.I.E.L.D. combat gear ran into the room, raised what Barry guessed were some form of modified assault rifles and fired. But Barry had his speed back, and they weren’t a match for him. He vaulted from his position on his knees and dodging more of those red devices grabbed one of the agent's guns and smashed him over the head with it. The other two received similar treatment, and they were soon lying on the ground unconscious. Barry flashed back to Kara, there was an incredible amount of blood on the floor. Then his Stark Watch began speaking.

_“Justice League, this is Superman. I was just attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. Be on high alert and get somewhere safe.”_

Barry placed his hands underneath Kara’s limp form and lifted her up.

“You’re the Flash,” Ben said, the guy was clearly in shock, “that means you can save her, right?”

“You can bet your ass I’m going to try,” Barry said before running out of the building. As he exited he watched two Quinjets landed on the ground, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents pouring out to secure the building, but the Flash ignored them, moving past them in a bolt of lightning. Barry was running faster than he ever had before. Hold on Kara. Hold on.

 

* * *

**O’Neill Residence, Upper East Side, New York City**

 

I approached the door to the Penthouse and turned the anti-gravity on my suitcase off. The black bag sank to the floor with a soft clunk.

“Ooh ooh can I unlock the door!?” Cassie said bouncing up and down.

“Sure thing.” I stepped out the way and let Cassie approach the door. She placed her hand on the hand scanner and stood on her tippy toes to reach the retinal scan. The door unlocked, and Cassie bounded inside.

 

I walked inside and immediately felt something was off. Katelyn drifted inside on her new and improved hover-chair. Stark Industries had debuted the revolutionary anti-gravitational technology a few months previously, and the amount of money it racked in could make even a billionaire’s brain hurt.

 

“Somethings not right,” I said quietly.

“I don’t sense anything off,” Katelyn said, “In fact, I can’t sense anything.”

“What do you mean? Usually, you can sense everyone in the building.” I said getting more concerned by the second.

“It’s like there’s this static,” Kate said rubbing her temple.

“Cassie come on. It’s time to get out of here.” I said loud enough for the six-year-old to hear me. The phrase was a pre-prepared warning. It meant Danger. Cassie recognised it and quickly ran back and stood between her adoptive parents.

 

I took a slow step further into the penthouse.

“Ring. Scan for abnormal energy signatures.” I said.

“Commencing Scan. And how many times do I have to tell you my name is not Ring. It’s A.T.M.A. Artificial Teaching and Mission Assistant.”

“I preferred it when you didn’t talk back,” I mumbled, causing Cassie to giggle.

Suddenly an alarm rang out from within the house.

“I don’t remember setting any alarms?” I said.

Suddenly a bright flash accompanied by an incredibly loud ringing sound erupted from within the room. I felt myself fall to the ground and everything went black.

 

* * *

**Gotham City**

**7:00pm**

 

Batman landed on the roof of the Gotham City Police Department building and made his way over to the Bat-Signal, which was lit and shining into the sky. Bruce was expecting to see Commissioner Gordon standing next to the light waiting for him. However, there was no one to be seen. Bruce was feeling uneasy. Normally Gordon would be waiting for him if he needed him enough to light the signal in the first place. He was about to jump off the building when the ground beneath him electrified. Bruce yelled out in excruciating pain. He willed himself to move but found he couldn’t. The electricity must be charged to the exact voltage needed to disable all his muscles. Then he realised the problem he was in. His heart was a muscle. If he couldn’t move his muscles. That meant his heart wasn’t beating. He had to do something and fast.

_“Justice League, this is Superman. I was just attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. Be on high alert and get somewhere safe.”_

Bruce felt consciousness leaving him. Everything started becoming blurry and fading out of existence. Then all external light disappeared, and Batman knew no more.

 

* * *

**Walmart, Chinatown, New York City**

**7:00pm**

 

Bruce Banner was doing his regular Friday night grocery shop. Sure, Stark could hire someone to buy anything he wanted or needed, but he liked doing the groceries himself. It added a sense of normalcy to his life that he was otherwise lacking. Bruce loved living in Stark Tower with its huge lab space, and he loved working with the Justice League, it gave him a sense of purpose. Bruce was walking up to the cash register when he felt a prick in his upper shoulder. Suddenly he lost all sense of balance and toppled into a shelf. His last thought before darkness took him was ‘Hulk where are you?’

* * *

**Camp Half-Blood**

**7:00pm**

 

Percy and Annabeth were duelling in the middle of the woods. This was generally how capture the flag worked these days. Percy and Annabeth had to be put on opposite teams. Otherwise, they always won. But putting them on opposite teams meant that they were always duelling. Percy instantly searched out Annabeth because he knew that she always has a plan. She was the biggest threat to winning capture the flag, so he had to distract her. So here they were, duelling. Again. Meanwhile, the remainder of the seven led their respective teams in the game.

This particular game, however, was cut short when Percy and Annabeth’s Justice League communicators went off.

_“Justice League, this is Superman. I was just attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. Be on high alert and get somewhere safe.”_

Percy and Annabeth immediately stopped fighting and raced towards the big house. Since the reveal of Demigods to the world, The Justice League had given the eight demigods a run down on what they could expect. A large part of that was the organisation called S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. as it turns out had been keeping watch over Camp Half-Blood for years. They just didn’t know what was there. Now they had a fair inkling. The Justice League had chased off S.H.I.E.L.D.’s visible presence from the area, but the Demigods knew that there were still agents in hiding that even the sentries couldn’t find.

“What’s going on!” Percy yelled as he ran into the command centre in the Big House. Annabeth had instantly regretted when Leo met Tony Stark. You could still hear them 5 floors on the other side of Stark Tower. But it had its benefits. With Stark’s help, Leo had finally been able to 100% adapt the technology for Demigod usage. So now the Big House had a command centre for tracking monsters and Demigods, tricked out with the latest tech.

“According to this, there are several S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles encircling the premises. There is no way we could get in or out without them knowing. We’re trapped.” Clarisse La’ Rue, Daughter of Ares, explained. She had taken to the new tech like a fish to water.

“They’re making sure we can’t assist the Justice League.” Annabeth realised.

“Seems that way.”

 

Everyone was silent for a few minutes.

 

“What if we launch the Argo 4?” Percy said as Leo and Piper walked into the room.

“You want to do what now? It’s not finished yet.” Leo exclaimed.

“It’s almost finished though isn’t it?”

“We’ve completed everything except the anti-gravity generators. We can’t get off the ground without them.” Leo explained.

Percy sighed and slumped down into an armchair.

“So, we just sit here and do nothing?” Piper said.

“Right now that’s all we can do,” Annabeth confirmed, but everyone could tell she wasn’t happy about it.

 

 

 


	19. Don't Mess With The Best

Event -  Justice League: The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. (#2)

#  Don’t Mess with the Best

 

* * *

**Stark Tower, New York**

**November 12 th 2026, 7:05pm**

Stark Tower was in lockdown. As soon as Mr Truth, Justice and the American way sent out his message, Stark had rushed to the Justice League Control Room to find Banner missing. Stark ran over to the control station and began yelling into a microphone installed on the console.

“Justice League! Justice League! This is Iron Man, please come in!”

All he got back was static.

 

“Tony!” Pepper yelled running into the room with chief of security Happy Hogan right behind him.

“Tony thank god!”

“What’s going on out there?” Stark said whispered to himself as he checked the monitors.

“Nothing from Bruce, Annabeth, Josh, Katelyn or any of the others?”

“Nothing.”

“Why haven’t they come after you?” Happy asked queried rubbing his forehead.

“I don’t know.”

“Have you tried communicating with heroes outside the League?” Pepper asked.

“Shazam’s busy. He’s at someplace called the Rock of Eternity. He can’t help us. I tried contacting the Demigods, but I think S.H.I.E.L.D. is scrambling the connection. I sent a message using the communicator Thor left with us before I ran into you in the hallway. Someone called Heimdall picked up. He said that Thor is ‘off-world’, but he would contact him and let him know of the situation as soon as possible.”

“Well, at least we can expect some sort of back up then.”

 

Suddenly a TV screen within Katelyn’s nexus lit up displaying a red-headed woman around college age.

_“Hello? Is anyone there? Please tell me Dr Banner is in the tower.”_

Stark, Happy and Pepper stepped inside the Nexus and addressed the figure on the screen.

“Who are you and where are you contacting us from?” Happy asked tensely.

“Ignore him. Hi, I’m Tony Stark. Genius Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist Superhero, and you are?”

_“My name is Barbara Gordon, you’d know me better as Batgirl. Alfred called me when he received Superman’s message. Batman’s missing. Please tell me you know where Dr Banner is.”_

“Ah, Miss Gordon it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I have heard so much about you. I follow you on Pictograph you know.” Stark said with a sly wink.

“Oh please…” Pepper said, head falling to her hands.

“Could you both Shut Up!” Happy yelled.

_“Stark concentrate! Where is Dr Banner?”_

“He’s missing along with the rest of the Justice League,” Pepper confirmed.

_“Damn it! Okay from what I’ve been able to piece together S.H.I.E.L.D. had every member of the Justice League under target. At exactly 7:00 pm tonight a trap was pulled on every single one of you, except Stark. I’ve tried contacting Kara, Barry and Josh. Nothing. I haven’t heard from Dick or Tim either, but they’re on a mission in Europe so shouldn’t be responding anyway.”_

“Hold up. Why wasn’t I targeted?” Stark asked confused.

_“Your too high profile and you’re the only member with a public identity.”_

“You’re good Miss Gordon I’ll give you that,” Stark said smugly.

 

Suddenly as if the gods were looking down on them the communicator crackled to life.

_“Oracle! Katelyn, can you hear me? Stark? Is anyone there?”_ Superman’s voice echoed through the coms.

“It’s good to hear your voice red and blue. Where are you?”

_“I’m flying towards Central City! I’m following the Flash’s Lightning trail.”_

“Can you catch up and talk to him and ask him what the hell is going on?”

_“No, he’s moving too fast. Even for me. I’m approaching the city. He’s headed for Star Labs. I’ll meet him there. Any word from the others?”_

“None. Keep in touch.”

_“Will do.”_

 

Clark cut the connection and flew in through the main entrance to Star Labs. He skidded to a halt, and his heart stopped.

 

Kara was lying on a hospital bed chest wide open. A brown-haired woman was standing over her. It looked like she was trying to pry something out of her chest.

“Barry. She needs blood now!”

Barry began hooking himself up to an I.V line without even hesitating.

“Stop!” Clark yelled, “What happened?”

“Oh my god it's Superman!” A man with long hair wearing a Star Wars t-shirt whispered in awe.

“S.H.I.E.L.D attacked us. She’s been hit with Kryptonite, and it's lodged next to her heart. Caitlin’s trying to get it out.” Barry explained to his friend

“If she needs blood I’ll give it to her. I’m Kryptonian.” Clark said, understanding dawning on his face. He began blasting his Heat vision at his hand. The skin pierced, and blood began pouring out. Barry injected the transfusion line, and blood began pumping into Kara’s limp body. Clark stared at the woman, whom Barry had called Caitlin, as she slowly but surely picked the green bullet out of Kara’s body and placed it on a metal pan which Barry was holding. Like a bolt of lightning, Barry was gone with the bullet and back once more.

 

Clark was starting to feel weak, the blood loss was getting to him. Barry noticed and removed the I.V from him, placing it in his own arm all without taking his eyes off Kara. Clark sighed and slumped into a chair next to the bed. He knew that Kara and Barry were dating. She constantly talked about it. He had even caught them making out in Stark Tower once using his super hearing. But he had no idea Barry was this smitten. He looked as though his very life depended on her survival.

Caitlin dropped the second bullet in a pan held by the long-haired guy. He then bolted out of the room as fast as he could.

 

Approximately half an hour later Caitlin had sewn Kara back up and had high voltage solar lamps on her. She placed a curtain around her body so that no one could see her naked form.

Clark stood up and placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“It’s not a problem. I’ve met Kara a few times, she’s an amazing girl and Barry is head over heels for her. I can’t imagine what would happen to him if she died.”

Clark remained silent, simply nodding his head and sitting back in his seat. Barry was sitting in the chair next to him, barely conscious.

_“Clark! Clark! Come in Superman!”_ Clark’s communicator went off, Pepper’s voice echoing through the room. Barry snapped awake at the sound.

“What is it?”

_“S.H.I.E.L.D.!! They found you! Thor’s on his way. You have five minutes before they are right on top of you!”_ Barry started running around the building removing everything that was on display and hiding it somewhere deep within the complex.

“Cisco the Pipeline!” Barry yelled arriving back in the Cortex.

“I’ve got it. Activating anti-detection mode.” Cisco yelled typing frantically at a computer. Clark had no idea what the duo were going on about, but it must have been important. He reminded himself to ask Barry about it later.

“What about Kara?” Clark asked watching Caitlin run into the closed-off space to clothing the Kryptonian.

Suddenly a thud could be heard coming from outside, and Thor ran into the building in full armour.

“Man of Super and Barry son of Allen we must retreat.”

Cisco fainted as soon as he saw the Thunder God.

Thor simply grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder. He then pulled Caitlin close to him and flew up through a hole in the roof. Barry finished wiping data from the database before picking up Kara’s limp form and racing out of the facility. Clark followed Thor and launched into the sky.

Sure enough, Clark could see Quinjets flying towards them. If not for Kara, Superman would have destroyed them then and there. But he needed to protect her from the air. He watched the Flash’s lightning trail blaze off in the direction of New York City and quickly followed.

 

Superman arrived at Stark Tower to see Tony in his Iron Man suit standing on the helipad, standing next to him was a red-haired woman wearing a cowl and cape.

Clark landed on the pad a few seconds after Thor. The Asgardian dropped his passengers, and Cisco proceeded to puke over the side.

“Well great, you realise I’m going to have to pay someone to clean that up, right?” Stark said sighing.

“I mean no disrespect fair maiden but who are you and why are you here?” Thor directed the statement at Barbara. Clark had met her on a mission with Kara dealing with escapees from the Phantom Zone. It’s was a long story.

“Oh, sorry I’m Barbara Gordon, I’m a friend of Batman’s, you’d know me as Batgirl.” The redhead pulled back her cowl and gave the two Justice Leaguers a stunning smile. Thor took Barbara’s hand and gave it a kiss. The poor girl’s cheeks went as red as her hair.

“It is an honour to meet you, Lady of Bats.” Clark stifled a laugh at Thor’s words.

“Seriously Point Break? Hand-kissing? That is so old-fashioned.” Stark commented.

“I think it’s sweet,” Caitlin said.

“Oh please.” Stark rolled his eyes and walked into the tower followed by the rest of the group.

Barry was waiting for them in the penthouse.

“Where’s Kara?” Clark, Caitlin and Barbara all said at the same time.

“She’s downstairs in the Med Lab. Stark’s best doctors are watching over her.” Barry said with a sigh, he looked incredibly tired. Caitlin quickly ran into the elevator and headed down to the blonde Kryptonian. She wasn’t willing to let another doctor get their hands on her.

 

“What happens now?” Pepper asked the question that everyone was thinking about. Stark, Pepper, Barry, Clark, Thor, Cisco and Barbara were all sitting around Stark’s massive conference table.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? We have to rescue our friends.” Clark stated, slamming his hand on the table, leaving a crack in the solid mahogany.

“How?” Barbara asked, “We have no idea where they are being held, how S.H.I.E.L.D is keeping them trapped, not to mention there is no way we could take on all of S.H.I.E.L.D at less than 100% strength. As it stands, there are only four Justice Leaguers able to fight. I can help, but I don’t know how much difference I’d make.”

“So what you’re saying is we need more manpower if we’re going to pull off a rescue mission.” Barry queried. The team knew that in areas of strategy, Barbara was leagues ahead of them, she was trained by Batman himself after all.

“That and a location,” Barbara confirmed.

“I think I know a couple of people who could help,” Barry said.

“The Demigods would be more than willing to help if we can give them a hand with their S.H.I.E.L.D. problem.

“And I’d wager that the rest of the League are being held at either the Triskelion in Washington or on the Helicarrier,” Clark said.

“Probably both. It makes sense to keep them separated, right?” Cisco added, he was still fanboying over Superman and Thor, but the reality of the situation had calmed him down considerably.

“I know where the Helicarrier is. Jarvis has been keeping an eye on it for me.” Stark stated.

“The Triskelion is heavily guarded. How are we going to get inside?” Barbara asked. The table fell silent.

 

Suddenly a small blue portal spiralled into existence above the table. A long thick metal rod fell out and landed on the table. The portal snapped shut, everyone was sitting in stunned silence. Well until it was broken by Thor, who stood up and yelled, “Hazar!!”

“Thor, what is that?” Superman said warily.

Thor snatched up the device enthusiastically and held is almost lovingly in his hand.

“This is an Asmerian device called a Baton. It can be used to generate any type or design of vehicle that can be imagined in your mind! This will provide us with the advantage needed to rescue our friends. Thank you!” Thor exclaimed, directing the last statement towards the sky.

“Looks like we might be able to pull this off after all,” Stark said with a smirk.

 

* * *

**Star City**

 

_“My name is Dinah Lance. I’ve been many things in my life: a student, a teacher, a secret agent, a wife, a widow, a bird of prey, a singer, a vigilante, a lover. But the thing I’m most proud of is the number of people that have been inspired by my attempts to make a difference in the world. These days I spend most of my time here in Star City. You’d know me as the Black Canary. The guy opposite me, dressed all in green with a terrible goatee is Oliver Queen, or the Green Arrow if you prefer. My partner in both crime fighting and life. So don’t get any ideas. He might try and act as scary as Batman when he’s taking down drug cartels and catching criminals, but he’s a big softy at heart. He loves old movies and is incredibly passionate about what he believes in. He’s also a big romantic. But don’t tell him I said that.”_

 

The couple were currently sitting in a leather armchair on the balcony of their treehouse hideout watching the golden sunset. Dinah was sitting with her head resting on Ollie’s shoulder, while he had his arm around her waist.

“I miss this,” Oliver said with a sigh.

“Miss what?” Dinah queried.

“Our lives are dominated, controlled by the job we do. It’s nice to be able to sit back and relax. Watch the sunset with my girl, knowing that there isn’t any big bad to fight at the moment.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining but without a big bad terrorising the city what would we do?”

“Move to Hawaii. I’ve always wanted to learn how to surf. And I think you’d look great in a grass skirt with a coconut bra.” Ollie said with a wink.

“Whose says you need to take me to Hawaii to see me in a grass skirt and a coconut bra?” Oliver’s cheeks went bright red.

“Well, why don’t we see about making that happen?” Oliver turned his head, so his face was only a few inches from hers. He leant down and kissed her.

 

A few minutes later a cough brought the couple up for air. John Diggle, Oliver’s best friend, was standing at the balcony entrance.

“Sorry to spoil the mood guys, but there’s someone here to see you. Say’s he knows you Oliver and that he’s friends with a mate of yours Dinah.”

“Who is he and how did he find us?” Dinah asked standing up and straightening her jacket.

“It wasn’t easy to let me tell you. I had to scour the entire city block by block only to realise you weren’t in the city at all, but in a tree-house in a nature reserve just south of it. Sweet digs by the way.” A weedy brown-haired man stepped out of the shadows and onto the balcony. He had a brown jacket on his shoulders that didn’t fit very well, and a pair of jeans that had several rips in them, under the clothes he was wearing a red suit with yellow lines blazed along it. The shoes he wore were of the same material. Dinah could see a yellow lightning bolt on a white background poking out from under the jacket.

“Barry. Long-time no see.” Oliver said.

“Ollie care to introduce us?” Dinah asked, not taking her eyes off the newcomer.

“Sorry. Dinah, Dig. This is Barry Allen, the Fastest Man Alive. Also known as the Flash. Barry this is John Diggle and Dinah Lance, better known as the Black Canary.”

“Nice to meet you both. Barbara asked me to tell you to pick up your phone. I may have edited out the explicit language she used.”

“Tell Babs that I lost my phone on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and don’t have the money to buy a new one,” Dinah replied.

“You can tell her yourself.”

Oliver and Dinah exchanged looks. Barry had seen it enough times. It was a look that said, ‘Sorry, duty calls,’ he had used it enough times himself.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked.

“I need your help taking down a top-secret government organisation that has Batman, The Dragon, Oracle, the Dragon and Oracle’s daughter and The Hulk captive and the entire Demigod population cut off from the rest of the world.”

“Oh boy.”

 

 


	20. Revenge is a ...

#  Revenge is a Bitch

 

 

**Washington DC,**

**12:32 pm November 21st, 2026 – Two days after Project Clean-Slate**

 

Barry was standing in a park in Washington DC trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Standing next to him was Barbara. She was eating a Strawberry ice-cream. She looked much calmer than he did. She was wearing a purple jacket to hide her suit. The Baton was in her boot.

"Calm down Barry, seriously. So, what, we're taking down the world's most covert government agency. Big deal." Babs said, taking a bite of her cone.

A boy ran up to the pair looking up at them with big brown eyes.

"Do you like my action figures?" He held them up above his head so they could get a better look. In his right hand was a Flash figure and his left had a Supergirl figure. Barry sighed. It had been two days since Kara had been injured and she had yet to wake up. Caitlin Snow, Barry's friend that Thor had brought with him back to the tower, had barely left her side. Stark also had 20 heavily armoured guards at her door. There was no way anyone was getting in there without a fight.

"Those Action Figure are awesome. Who are your favourite Justice Leaguers?" Barbara asked kneeling down so she was at eye-level with the boy.

"Definitely the Flash, then Supergirl, then Hulk, then Superman, then Thor, then Dragon, then Iron Man, then Batman." He explained, he was so excited to be able to tell his new friend all about his heroes.

"Why do you like the Flash?"

"He's so cool. He can run faster than light and he can use his lightning powers to create lightning bolts and he can run through walls and he can make tornados and he can…." The boy went on and on and on for a good five minutes – often repeating what he had already said – before his Mom and Dad ran over.

"I am so sorry about him." The mum began.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine really." Babs told her.

Suddenly Barry's phone went off. He took it out of his pocket and looked at it, a smile dawning on his face as he did so.

"Mission is a go," He said, "hey kid. You said the Flash is your favourite superhero, right?"

The boy jerked his head up and down furiously.

"Great. Watch this." Barry slipped a golden ring on his finger and held it out so the kid could see. He winked and spun around, kicking up a lightning storm as he did so. A few seconds later and Barry was dressed in full Flash regalia, golden lightning crackling off his body. The boy's action figures fell to the ground.

"It was nice meeting you, I'd love to stay and chat but I've got some friends to save." The Flash gave the family a smile before disappearing in a blur of lightning and a gust of wind. Barbara almost dropped her ice-cream.

"Did you see that mom! That was the Flash!" The kid was jumping up and down so incredibly fast it wasn't funny.

"I saw him, sweetie." The mom exclaimed, still in shock herself. The dad looked towards Barbara and mouthed a silent 'thank-you'.

"He said you had a mission. That's so cool. You have a mission too? What's the mission? Can you tell me? Are you a superhero too?" The kid began rattling questions off to Barbara at a hundred miles a minute.

"Well, I'll let you in on it. But you have to swear secrecy."

"Please, please, please!"

"Okay. So, Dragon, Batman and Hulk have all been captured by the bad guys. Now Flash, Superman, Iron Man, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Batgirl and Green Lantern are going to rescue them."

"That's so cool. But where's Supergirl? Isn't she helping?"

"Supergirl is hurt bad. She's resting in Stark Tower, but don't worry, everything is going to be just fine."

"Poor Supergirl. So, who are you? You can't be Black Canary, she has blonde hair. So… you must be Batgirl!" The boy yelled. He was so excited.

Babs pulled her jacket apart to reveal the Bat logo on her suit.

"Shh. It's a secret. The bad guys can't know we're here. You have to be extra quiet."

"Okay."

Barry ran through the city like lightning. He thought about Josh and Katelyn and Cassie, trapped somewhere, probably being tortured for information on how the rings worked. He thought about Dr Banner, he was probably being experimented on. He thought about Batman, he was probably fine, that or he had already escaped. Probably the latter. But mostly his thoughts drifted to Kara, still lying unconscious in Stark Tower, she was in a coma and Caitlin had no idea when or even if she would wake up. All these thoughts. The people he cared about. His family. They were in danger and it was his job to help them. This mission wasn't about saving the world, it was about saving his family and he wasn't going to screw that up again. So he ran, faster than he ever had before blazing through Washington, creating a massive signal that every satellite above Earth could see. Here I am, come and get me.

 

* * *

 

**102nd Floor, the Empire State Building**

**New York City**

At the same time over 300km to the north, Thor stood at the top of the Empire State Building using his godly vision to see the army of S.H.I.E.L.D. surrounding the Camp of Demigods and trying to avoid the crowd of spectators trying to take selfies with him.

"Mortals, I am engaged in a matter of most importance, I require you to leave this vantage point for your safety immediately." Did the mortals listen to him, no. No, they did not. Eventually, Thor became so annoyed with them that he asked one of the security guards to remove the humans.

"Protector of the building, I must ask you on behalf of the League of Justice to remove the mortals from this place."

The guard quickly complied.

Once the area was clear of tourists, Thor got to work. He lifted Mjolnir skyward and drew on its power, pulling the lightning and electricity into himself. It was overcast in New York, but that would soon change. Storm clouds of Thor's brewing were stretching across the entire east coast of the United States, blocking out the sun and casting shadows across the ground.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the security perimeter S.H.I.E.L.D. had set up around Camp Half-Blood, the Green Arrow and Black Canary were stashing Stark's motorbike they had borrowed in the bushes.

"I've never been on a Justice League mission before. This is so exciting." Oliver whispered to his black-clad friend.

"I've never met a Demigod before, so this should be fun," Dinah replied.

The vigilantes moved through the forest as quickly and as quietly as possible, which for them meant without a sound and faster than most runners could sprint. They approached the first sentry, he was leaning against a tree, bored out of his mind. He never even saw the two arrows' that flew out of the wood. One, a tranq, hit him in the leg, the other, a simple broad head, went through his left collarbone and into the tree, pinning him upright. The next guard, who was patrolling, was sent crumpling to the ground by a well-placed roundhouse kick from Black Canary.

As the duo moved closer to the camp and more sentries became visible, they couldn't use force to take them down as any hole's in the screen would be quickly noticed. So they had to use stealth and camouflage instead. Eventually, they made it to their goal, a small rocky depression in a hill a kilometre south of the camp. Oliver, as quietly as he could, moved a large flat rock on the ground. Underneath was a tunnel with a ladder leading down into the dark. Black Canary quickly jumped into the black, landing softly about five metres down. Green Arrow followed suit, using the ladder to lower himself into the hole before replacing the cover stone and sealing the tunnel. He climbed down the ladder and joined his girlfriend at the bottom of the tunnel. They pulled small but powerful torches from their belts and used them to light the tunnel ahead.

They proceeded down the corridor, which despite being an underground tunnel was very well maintained. There were no caved in sections, no cracks in the roof spilling in dirt and the ground was very solid. It was a few minutes later when their progress was halted. Oliver walked straight into an invisible barrier. He fell onto his ass and Dinah gave a quiet giggle.

"Ow."

"Poor baby." Dinah placed her hand on the wall, feeling the barrier, the shield protecting the camp from exterior forces.

"Looks like we aren't Demigods then. Well, this is as far as we can go. Let's just hope Thor is right and everything goes according to plan above ground." Dinah said, taking a seat on the ground to begin waiting.

 

* * *

 

**Washington DC**

Barry zoomed into the White House just for fun. He ran straight through the residence and into the West Wing, blasting down a corridor and into the Oval Office itself. President Ellis was sitting at the Kennedy Desk, in the process of signing something. Barry walked around the famous room for a few microseconds before phasing through the wall and racing through the Rose Garden before blasting down Pennsylvania Avenue all the way to the Potomac. There sitting in the middle of the river was the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. That was the target. Suddenly the sky's turned dark, storm clouds materialised out of nowhere, blocking out the sun and covering the horizon.

"Barry… Light it up." Iron Man's signal came through the com unit.

"Showtime." Barry blasted down the main bridge into the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D. defences and security measures were already activated, no doubt as a result of his running around the city for the past half an hour. He simply phased through the walls, the bolts and bullets launched from the cannons and machine guns looked like there were standing still as he raced past them. He ran straight through the blast doors at the front entrance and began taking out agents one by one. Getting hit by something moving at over 300miles an hour really hurts.

 _"Barbara. I have S.H.I.E.L.D. distracted. You have a go."_  Barry's message came across the coms.

"Sorry guys but it's my turn to make a cool exit. If I was you I'd stay away from the Potomac for the next couple of hours." Babs gave the family a big smile before shedding her jacket and pulling up her cowl. She pulled the baton from her boot and ran towards the road. She jumped out over the highway and activated the baton. A black motorcycle with purple lights materialised beneath her, she landed on the bike and put her foot down on the accelerator. A helmet with an incredibly responsive heads-up display formed over Barbara's head and she took off down the street making a beeline for Eastern Washington, where a second secret entrance to the Triskelion was located.

 

* * *

 

**Mount Diablo, San Francisco, California**

Superman and Green Lantern were standing on the top of the Mountain watching the Helicarrier pass overhead.

"That cloaking technology is shit," Hal stated.

"I know, it's not even a real cloak. It's just got reflective panelling." Clark confirmed, "The whole thing is lead lined. I can't see where the others are being held, prisoner."

"Then I guess we'll just have to smash it to pieces then," Hal said.

"That's the plan. But Lantern, leave Fury alone. He's mine." Superman said.

 

* * *

 

**S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier, 9,800ft above San Francisco.**

Agent Phil Coulson was putting his foot down. He wasn't going to be a part of this any longer. When Coulson had joined S.H.I.E.L.D. it had stood for something. It stood for Protection. Now he didn't know what their job was. It certainly wasn't protecting the innocent. Coulson had devoted his life to an organization that had become corrupted at the roots and he wasn't going to stand by and let the S.H.I.E.L.D Security Council do whatever they wanted to any longer. Nick had been his friend once. Now he didn't even know who he was. When he learned that Josh O'Neill and his family were a few decks below him being tortured and experimented on, he decided to act. Right now, his team and a few other loyal agents were in key positions at both the Helicarrier and the Triskelion, waiting for his signal.

Coulson and his most trusted ally, Agent Melinda May walked down a hallway and into a private room deep in the bowels of the ship. They nodded to the guards and Coulson swiped his key-card. The door slid open and the duo tried to keep a neutral expression on their faces as they walked inside. A table in the middle room held a golden bracelet and an electrified chamber with a glowing gold ring suspended inside it. 5 computer screens were displaying various images and statistics. Three naked figures were suspended in Stasis-chambers on the far side of the room. Josh O'Neill was in the centre one, he had a large gash over his chest and fresh stitching on his neck. His left hand and forearm had been cut off. Katelyn O'Neill was in the left one, she had a large number of wires connected to her head – no doubt to monitor and inhibit her telepathic abilities. Fortunately, she didn't seem to have any physical wounds. Neither did her daughter Cassie O'Neill, who was in the right tank. The girl's golden bracelet was still on her arm and an I.V line was plugged into her arm. Next to each chamber was a screen displaying strands of DNA.

Luckily there was no one else in the room. Coulson walked over to a control panel next to Mr O'Neill and pushed a red button marked revive. The chamber activated and began the thawing process. May moved over to the girl and began examining the DNA strand displayed.

"Coulson, look." Phil glanced over at what May was pointing at. Half of Cassie's DNA was missing.

"That's not possible. She should be a pile of mush." Coulson stated.

"Evidently it is."

The tank holding Josh finished thawing and his body fell out of the pod. Coulson caught him and lied him down on the ground.

"How long will it take him to wake up?" May asked.

"I have no idea."

 

* * *

 

**C** **amp Half-Blood**

Oliver and Dinah stood up as a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. The Demigods had arrived. There were 10 in total, but Dinah recognised three of them. Annabeth Chase, Frank Zhang and Percy Jackson, three of the seven Demigods who had come out to the world live on CNN. Not surprisingly, there had been a lot of fear and animosity across the world when the existence of human god hybrids had been revealed, however, the fact that they had saved the world from total annihilation multiple times quickly shut any racists up in any argument. Even uber conservatives and hate groups had a hard time getting ground.

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked she was holding a bronze knife and looked like she knew how to use it.

Dinah answered.

"I'm Black Canary, that's the Green Arrow. The Justice League sent us to help you out. We are part 2 of a four-pronged attack the League has planned on S.H.I.E.L.D. Thor should be arriving soon to confirm our story. It was him that told us about this secret entrance into the camp."

Annabeth considered this for a few seconds before nodding to Frank and Percy. The two Demigods stepped through the barrier and moved behind the vigilantes.

"Hand over your weapons," Percy said sternly.

Dinah removed most of the knives from her boots and unclipped her extendable bow staff from her belt and handed them over, while Oliver unslung his bow and removed his quiver, along with all the smaller arrows he had attached to his person.

Percy made sure that they were the only ones in the tunnel before nodding to Annabeth. Annabeth sighed, looked up and began speaking.

"I Annabeth Daughter of Athena take responsibility for the Mortals Black Canary and Green Arrow and allow them passage through the protective barrier around camp." A thunderclap echoed above, audible even in the tunnel.

"It's okay. You can walk through now." Frank said.

Dinah and Oliver both took hesitative steps forward. They passed through the barrier with ease, Percy and Frank following behind. The vigilantes were then guided through the rest of the tunnel.

 

* * *

 

**Washington DC**

Barbara zoomed into what, on the outside, appeared to be a hotel car-park. The reality was obvious once she was inside. The entire garage was full of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. Babs just blasted straight past them, their bullets ricocheting off the energy shield the bike projected around itself. She smashed through a door and drove down an underground tunnel. Babs could tell by the dampness of the air that she was under the river. This bike was incredibly awesome, but, it couldn't get her through the solid lead door that was coming up. If she was going to get inside, she would need to use her own skill set.

 

* * *

 

**S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier**

"Hurhhh!" Josh, sprang into consciousness, jumping to his feet and observing everything in the room. He saw Coulson and another woman standing with their hands up a few metres away.

"Fuck!" Josh grabbed the stump of his left arm, groaning in pain.

"Shit. It hurts like a bitch."

"Language, seriously."

"Shut the fuck up Coulson. What the hell are you even doing."

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm rescuing you."

"Why?"

"Because S.H.I.E.L.D. used to stand for something. Now it doesn't. I didn't sign up to an agency that tortures little girls." Coulson said, deactivating the containment chamber and throwing me the Ring. I slipped it on my finger, my suit materialised over me, giving me some form of decency. White dust began pouring out of the stump of my left arm, regrowing the bones and cartilage that had been hewn off, my other wounds began healing as well. I moved on from Coulson, I could deal with him later, and he was helping me at the moment. I placed my hand on Katelyn's tank.

"Katelyn," I whispered.

"Coulson, can you?" I gestured to the tank and Coulson began the thawing process. I then walked over to Cassie. Coulson's female friend was standing next to it.

"Mr O'Neill, I'm Agent Melinda May and you need to have a look at this." I walked over and saw what she was pointing out.

"I'll admit I'm no scientist but that's not normal is it?"

"It shouldn't be possible," Coulson confirmed.

"No. It is possible, I was just really hoping we were wrong." I said.

"What do you mean?" May asked, her face deadpanned.

"Gods don't have DNA, they're ascended beings. So when gods have children with mortals…" I trailed off, not wanting to confirm what we had suspected for a while.

"She's a demigod? How did you not know? Shouldn't she have powers," Coulson asked.

"The bracelet. It stops Katelyn from hearing her thoughts, we had a feeling it was blocking any powers she might have had. But we didn't risk taking it off because if she was a demigod monsters would instantly start hunting her. No little girl should have to deal with that."

I moved over to Katelyn's pod and pulled the wires off her head, using the ring to create some clothes for her. I started the thawing process on Cassie while Kate woke up.

Beneath the Carrier, Superman and Green Lantern launched into the sky, heading straight for the flying fortress, with the intention of ripping it apart. The duo were instantly assaulted by anti-aircraft fire from guns located over the ship.

"Lantern! Deal with the guns, I'll take care of the fighters."

 

* * *

 

**The Triskelion, Washington DC**

"Mission is a go." May's voice echoed across the comms.

"Ok. Let's do this." Skye whispered before nodding to Trip, who was standing across from her. Trip smashed the door open and opened fire on the agents and scientists in the room with his icer. Bodies thumping to the floor one by one. Skye moved in behind him, shooting the two guards Trip missed.

"Nice shot girl." Trip said with a wink before holstering his gun.

"Don't get cocky," Skye told him, rolling her eyes before walking over to the stasis chamber at the back of the room. Hovering in suspended animation was Bruce Banner.

"Ok, Dr Banner. Let's get you out of this hell hole." Skye whispered before pressing the revive button.

Several levels above Skye and Trip, Bobbi Morse and her fiancé Lance Hunter (whom she had successfully roped into the mission) we're cracking skulls in another lab. Bobbi was using her trademark batons and Hunter was using an assortment of punches and kicks, with the occasional bullet to deliver a similar outcome. Eventually, the duo knocked the last agent to the floor, unconscious, and approached a doorway at the back of the room. With a swipe of the fake id Skye had made, the door slid open, revealing a very much awake (and naked) Bruce Wayne, being supported by a figure in purple and yellow with red hair.

"Batgirl!" Wayne yelled and the girls head snapped up, and a Batarang slammed into the wood where Hunters face had been milliseconds before.

"Woah. Woah. Woah! Hold your fire we're here to help!" Lance yelled.

The two vigilantes eyed them with suspicion.

"Prove it," Batgirl asked.

Bobbi stepped out of the doorway and pointed to the unconscious S.H.I.E.L.D. agents crumpled on the floor.

"Our team is releasing the other members of the Justice League as we speak. The uncaptured members of the League accidentally planning their own assault at the same time is a welcome coincidence." Bobbi explained. Batgirl looked at Wayne who softly nodded. He didn't look well. He was incredibly pale and shaking.

"What's the play?" Batgirl asked.

"There's a Quinjet ten levels above ready to get us out of here. But there's another problem we have to deal with first."

 

* * *

 

**S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier**

"Are you sure you're alright?" I asked for what had to be the tenth time.

"I'm fine Josh," Katelyn explained, placing her hand in mine to reassure me.

"But you said you still can't hear anything?" I asked her.

"The walls are lined with lead. Stops X-Ray vision and telepathy." Coulson pointed out and I gave him my best death glare. He quickly shut up.

"I'm more worried about Cassie," Kate admitted. The little girl had yet to wake up and was currently sleeping on Katelyn's lap. Agent May had found a conventional wheelchair for Katelyn to sit in. The plan, as Coulson had explained was for the group to make their way a short distance to the lower hanger bay. Coulson had loyal agents stationed between the cell and the Quinjet he planned to steal to ensure their escape. He had just finished explaining when a massive shockwave passed through the carrier.

"Are we under attack?" May asked, running back into the room from her position at the door.

"Yep. I'd recognise the sound of Heat Vision anywhere." I said with a smile. I created a phone construct and patched into the Justice League communication network.

"Superman. I assume that was the welcome wagon I just heard?" I said.

"Dragon!" Superman's voice yelled through the phone.

"It's me. Authorisation code Alpha Delta Charlie Niner. Coulson and a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents set us free. We've got an exit strategy, what's going on?"

"Your buddy Green Lantern and I are tearing up the Helicarrier. I'm trying to find Fury, but these Kryptonite Deck Guns they've got are giving me problems."

"I'm going to get Oracle to the extraction, then I'll give you a hand. I've got a score to settle. Lantern listen to me very carefully."

* * *

Hal flew into the lower hanger accompanied by half a dozen construct fighter jets and began blowing the place to smithereens. Agents tried to man the guns on the planes, but Hal vaporised them with a blast of green light before they even got the chance.

It had been six months since the Green Ring of Will had found him in a test pilot simulator. Hal's girlfriend Carol had also received a ring, the Violet Ring of Love. As one can imagine, they added an interesting new depth to their relationship. A few days later, Josh O'Neill, the Dragon, had shown up at their doorstep. He had looked very tired and was trying very hard not to show it. He had taught them how to use the gifts they had been given in the best way possible. He had also explained that there were other rings that were unaccounted for. This had been proven correct when a man named Guy Gardener, who had been possessed by the red ring of rage, had attacked the couple a month later. They had managed to separate the ring from Guy and return him to his usual self and they had handed the ring over to Josh, who had hidden it somewhere only he knew where. Now he was trying to rescue his mentor, and he damn well wasn't going to fail.

We turned around a corner and had to instantly duck to avoid an agent that went flying over their heads. Standing in the middle of the hall, with unconscious agents all around her, was a woman in a tight black suit with long red hair. She smiled at us as we walked up to her.

"Coulson. Everything going well on your end?" She asked walking up to them.

"So far so good Agent Romanoff."

"Clint has the Quinjet prepped for take off. Apparently, Green Lantern flew in and destroyed all the other jets."

Agent Romanoff was cut off by a groan from Cassie. She was still sitting on Katelyn's lap, Coulson was pushing her chair while Agent May led the group and I bought up the rear while my had finished growing back.

"Kate? What's going on?" Cassie whispered as she came too surrounded by people she didn't know.

"Hey, it's ok. We're getting out of here."

Cassie pulled her head out from Kate's shoulder and hopped down from her chair, stumbling a bit as she hit the ground.

"Cassie, you sure you're up to it?" I asked her. She looked me straight in the eye and gave me one of her signature grins.

"Yeah, I'm good Josh. Let's go!"

"I like this girl." Romanoff said before holding her hand out to Cassie, "my names Natasha."

* * *

Barry raced down a staircase and phased through a wall. He slammed a guard into a pole and stopped dead in horror. He was now directly beneath the Potomac in a large hanger. Sitting in the hanger were three giant helicarriers, all of which were powering up

 

 


	21. Downfall

Event - Justice League: The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. (#4)

#  Downfall

 

**Washington DC,**

**3:08 pm November 21 st, 2026 – Two days after Project Clean-Slate**

"Shit! Guy's we've got a big problem!" Barry yelled into his comm unit before taking off at Mach 2. He had to find the control room to this underwater hanger before they could open the doors.

"Flash what is it?" Cisco's voice echoed in his ear. Barry quickly explained what he had learned to the rest of the team.

"They have flying fortress death machines? For real? How did we not know that?"

Barry ran into the control room, knocking all the guards to the floor in half a second before sliding to a stop in front of what he assumed was the door operating system. He slammed a button and the hanger doors stopped opening and began to slide closed.

"Ok. I've stopped the carriers getting out, but I can't take them all out by myself. I just run fast. I don't have Superstrength or laser eyes." Barry yelled. He had to use a lightning bolt to seal the door shut as more guards tried to get in. Then a voice he didn't recognise came across the comm.

"Don't worry Flash." A woman's voice said. "Back-ups coming. The big green kind."

Suddenly a wall on the far side of the complex smashed apart, pieces of metal flying in all directions, and the Hulk burst out. And he looked very, very angry.

"Batgirl I assume I have you to thank for that?" Barry asked.

"Nope. There's a team of SHIELD Agents helping us, they set Banner free. I do have Batman and about twenty other civilian prisoners here with me though. Some of them are banged up pretty bad. I could use a quick evac Flash."

"On my way Batgirl." With one last glance at Hulk, who had just caused the command centre of one of the Helicarrier's to explode, Barry disappeared in a flash of lightning, heading to meet up with Barbara and rescue the prisoners.

* * *

"Mr President, you need to make a decision." Damien King, the White House Chief of Staff told his boss and longtime friend, President Ellis.

"Damn it!" The President yelled, slamming his hand on the desk he was sitting at, in the White House Situation Room.

"Anyone I send in there is going to be cannon fodder. We need to know why the Justice League is attacking our counterterrorism agency! And we need to know it yesterday."

"Sir's the media's picked it up." A secret service aid stated before pulling up a newsfeed on the main screen of the room.

" _You're live in the CNN Newsroom and we are here with some shocking breaking news. We have confirmation that at this very moment, The Flash is attacking the Triskelion, the headquarters of the world's leading counter-terrorism agency the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, or SHIELD for short. It is unknown where Superman, the Dragon or the rest of the Justice League is. Nothing has been heard from any of the League since Supergirl was attacked in her civilian persona two days ago. We need to add once again that as per the media's agreement with the Justice League, Supergirl's identity will not be revealed under any circumstances. It is possible the Flash's attack on SHIELD headquarters might have something to do with the attack on Supergirl. Stay tuned and we will continue to bring you the very latest."_

The President just looked down and sighed.

"I can't send the military into this, they'll get smashed. This is the problem with having all these powered people running around!"

* * *

"What do you need us to do Director Fury?" Agent Brock Rumlow asked his superior.

"Keep the Demigods penned up in their camp. This attack is obviously a distraction to get us to let our guard down so they can help the Demigods. Be careful. An attack could come at any minute."

"Yes, sir."

Brock sighed and put the phone down on the table of the command vehicle he was sitting in. It was a modified hum-vee, with a missile launcher on the roof. Rumlow jumped out of the car and walked up the hill which he had been told was called 'Half-Blood Hill'. As if Demigod wasn't a degrading enough name, these 'things' chose to call themselves 'half-bloods?' Brock didn't understand it. What he did understand however was the scope of his job here at Camp Half-Blood.

He reached the top of the hill and put his hand on the invisible barrier. His scientists said the shield was consistent with Tony Starks reports on Delta Radiation and SHIELD's own research into Magicka Particles.

All Brock could see on the other side of the barrier was a strawberry field, but he knew there was an entire town of those hybrid's waiting on the other side.

Brock turned around and began walking down the hill before he heard a voice.

"Hay Agent."

Brock pulled his gun and spun around. All the sentry's on the hill followed suit, looking in shock and awe at the woman standing just beyond the barrier. She was just under six-foot, with long blonde hair and a charming smile. Brock estimated she was in her late twenties. She was wearing a bronze breastplate with a long sword strapped to her waist and a pair of dark denim jeans.

"Woah. There's no need for violence. I just came to talk."

She said, taking her sword and placing it on the ground, before kicking it to the other side of the barrier.

"Who are you? You're not one of the Seven. Are you one of those Alien Gods?" Brock snapped.

"You could say that. I am Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Beauty and Desire. I am here to ask you very nicely to leave this place. I would also like to point out that the U.S. Government agreed to respect the autonomy of Camp's Half-Blood and Jupiter on the condition that we continue fighting monsters and other nasties from our world. This looks to me like a violation of that treaty."

Brock hesitated before answering. If this was one of those aliens he had to choose his next words carefully. He had seen the footage of the Battle of the Gods. He knew he could be turned to ash in a matter of moments.

"We aren't here on behalf of the government. We're SHIELD. And we are here to take down your little encampment."

The woman, Aphrodite as she called herself, seemed to hesitate for a few moments.

"Ok. What if I strike a deal with you? If I tell you how to find the portal into Camp Jupiter in California, you'll leave Camp Half-Blood alone?" She offered.

Brock was stunned. This woman was willing to betray the other camp to save her own? SHIELD had no way to find the other camp, let alone get inside. If the woman told them how they would be one step closer to completing their mission, and they could always attack this camp later.

"Ok, step outside the shield and we'll talk," Brock said, stepping back to give her room. The woman steeled herself before stepping back into the outer world.

"Oh, by the way, I should warn you, I may have lied earlier. See I'm not Aphrodite, Piper says she's more dramatic than I am. I'm not even a Demigod." All the guards' safety's clicked off and the woman grinned, "But I do have one hell of a voice." The woman screamed, and Brock and all the agents went flying off the hill.

Brock landed at the base of the hill, narrowly missing a pitched tent. He groaned and inwardly hit himself for underestimating the half-blooded filth. He quickly jumped to his feet and looked up to the top of the hill. Standing next to the blonde woman was a man with his face covered by a hood covered all in green holding a bow and arrow, and another man with black hair, wearing Ancient Greek armour holding a gleaming bronze sword. Rumlow was just now realising his big mistake. With the Green Arrow standing next to her, the woman was obviously Dinah Lance, the Black Canary. Around them was an army of teens and adults all wearing armour and holding very sharp and deadly weapons.

Suddenly the sky cracked open and Thor landed in front of Rumlow, his entire body crackling with electricity.

"Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D. surrender now and no further harm will come to you. You have my word as the crown prince of Asgard!" the god shouted.

All eyes turned to Rumlow. Brock just narrowed his eyes and spat in Thor's face.

"Go back to your planet you Alien shit. And take all these hybrid scum back with you." He growled.

Thor's eyes darkened and the sky grew even darker, if that was even possible.

"So be it."

The Asgardian stepped back and called to the army assembling behind him.

"Demigods! Attack!"

* * *

_"Alert. Willpower Energy detected."_

_"Thanks A.T.M.A."_

Everyone spun around and looked at me, questioning looks on their faces. Coulson was still pushing Kate's chair, May and Romanoff were up the front and Cassie and I were at the back. All my injuries had finally healed, but the ring was sitting at 17% power. Apparently, the electro field S.H.I.E.L.D. had kept the ring in had stopped it from recharging.

"Don't worry that's just the ring telling me Green Lanterns up ahead," I told them and Natasha made to open the door to the hanger.

_"Alert Fear Energy detected."_  Everyone turned towards me again.

"That we should worry about."

I pulled the second bracelet from my pocket and snapped it onto Cassie's other wrist.

"Hey!"

"Sorry Cassie, but I need you safe. Romanoff, open the door." I told the redhead with a nod.

She pressed the access panel and the door slid open.

The hanger had gone to hell. There was one Quinjet left, engines powered up and ready to go. Hal was unconscious on the floor, his ring hand was horribly bent out of shape.

Standing in the middle of the hanger was Nick Fury, holding an agent by his neck.

"Clint!" Coulson yelled.

Fury spun around and the horror only got worse. His eyepatch had fallen off, all that was beneath it was a glowing yellow eye.

"PUT. HIM. DOWN." Katelyn commanded. The suggestion echoed through the heads of everyone in the room. It was so powerful that even though I wasn't holding anything, my hands involuntarily opened. Coulson and May both dropped their guns. Fury dropped the agent, Clint, and raised his arm towards us. The palm of his hand had completely melted away revealing something that looked awfully like one of Stark's repulsors.

"Get down!" I yelled and threw up an energy shield of raw emotion.

The beam of fear energy struck the shield with incredible intensity. Fortunately for my rings power battery, it didn't last long. The beam stopped and the fear-powered Fury cyborg launched himself at the shield. He created a yellow construct sword as he did so and slammed it straight through the barrier, causing it to shatter.

I dropped to my knees and blasted Fury with an energy beam of my own sending him flying backwards.

Clint had managed to get off the ground and was moving over to the Quinjet. He looked in bad shape. Natasha gave Coulson and I a quick nod before slowly circling in the wounded agent's direction.

"Nick? What the hell happened to you?" Coulson asked. Gone was the secret agent façade. On his face was a look of pure horror. Agent May was doing better, her face still looked stoic, but her jaw was hard clenched and her hands were balled into fists.

"Nick Fury has been dead for years. Ever since he bonded with the yellow ring and built this exoskeleton to harness it. He gave in to his fear of powered people and created me. I am the Yellow Lantern, the Dragon of Fear, The Cyborg Superman!" the 'not' Fury Cyborg pulled the tattered tactical suit from its chest and displayed a black and grey version of the House of El sigil.

"I am the ultimate weapon against metahuman, lantern and alien threats. I will purge the world of your fu…."

It never got the chance to finish.

Cassie had been feeling a buzzing in the back of her head ever since Josh had put the second bracelet on her wrist. When the evil robot guy attacked them, the buzzing had turned into something that resembled church bells ringing into her skull. The bracelets started itching as well. When he started talking the noise became so unbearable that she gripped the silver bracelet and tried to pull it off. But when she touched it instead of detaching it began growing along her wrists. Then it started appearing all over her body. Her legs, her tummy and her back. Until her whole body was covered in golden armour with a winged w sigil displayed on her belt. At first, Cassie wanted to scream, but then she felt the power. Her skin felt harder somehow, her hands and arms felt stronger, and she could feel the wind around her. Cassie grinned and looked straight at the robot, before launching herself at it and punching it in the head, just like she had always watched the team doing.

I watched dumbfounded as Cassie, decked out in a sick ass suit of armour, jumped over my head and punched Cyborg Fury in the face before kicking him in the chest, sending him to the floor and launching Cassie up in the air where she remained, hovering, poised for a next strike like a pro.

There was really only one thing I could say to that.

"Take that you racist cyborg shit!" I yelled. Then the Helicarrier lurched sideways and everyone was thrown from their feet.

* * *

Barry raced the last prisoner, Bruce, out to the Washington DC police department. He had quickly explained to the Commissioner that the people were all civilians that had been illegally experimented on by S.H.I.E.L.D. and that they needed help. As soon as the commissioner saw that Bruce Wayne was one of the prisoners he dropped everything he was doing and had his whole squad helping. Barry was just getting back to the Triskelion when all hell broke loose. One of the Helicarrier's had made it out of the hanger and was currently suspended in the middle of the air about twenty stories up. Hulk was on board tearing it apart and the carrier's guns were trying unsuccessfully to take him out. However, the missing shots were flying into the city.

"Shit!" Barry's eyes flashed and he blasted through the city, catching rouge shells before they could do too much damage. He only just caught a massive discharge that would have destroyed the Washington Monument.

"Stark! The civilians are out. Get inside and get what you need from the S.H.I.E.L.D. servers!"

"Chill out Lightning McQueen, I'm on it." Stark flew out of the clouds, Nickelback's  _Burn it to the Ground_  playing from the external speakers on the suit. He narrowly missed being shot out of the sky by the Helicarrier.

"Show off."

Stark flew into what he assumed was the penthouse suite of the Triskelion. He shot someone Jarvis identified as Alexander Pierce in the chest and walked over to the data terminal on the other-side of the room. Stark removed a data drive from the sleeve of his suit and plugged it into the console.

"Jarvis how we looking?"

"The data transfer has begun sir. All of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files are at my disposal and are being mirrored to the secure server at the Watchtower base which will be taken offline as per instructed as soon as the download is complete. Is there anything specific you would like me to search for while the transfer takes place?"

Stark paused for a second. He wasn't sure this was something he wanted to dig into. But he had to know for sure.

"Jarvis show me everything related to Howard Stark."

* * *

Oliver Queen was dying internally. This was like a battle you read about in fiction books. Oliver made no attempt to hide that he loved the TV show Game of Thrones and its various spinoffs. And he thought this fight rivalled the Season 7 finale. Oliver was right in the thick of the fighting, Dinah and the Demigod Jason Grace were standing next to him. Dinah was a natural with the enchanted sword Annabeth Chase had given her and coupled with her sonic scream and her deadly martial arts skills, his girlfriend was like a one-woman army. Jason Grace was full of surprises as well. He was tossing lightning like it was the most natural thing in the world all the while clubbing people over the head with his Imperial Gold spear. Thor was in front of the army of Demigods destroying tanks and missile launchers before the shield agents could use them, which Oliver greatly appreciated. Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson were on the left flank and Hazel Levesque and Nico Di'Angelo were on the right.

After Dinah and Oliver had been brought into Camp Half-Blood (Dinah had to stop herself from screaming in awe lest she accidentally destroy one of the cabins) and they had explained to the Demigod Council what had happened in the outside world since they had been cut off, the Greeks quickly contacted the Romans at Camp Jupiter and informed them that S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't know where the camp was so the Roman Legion could travel through the gateway connecting the two camps to reinforce the Greeks without leaving New Rome open to attack. Once the Legion and Thor had arrived they began discussing battle plans which had ultimately led to their current situation.

Oliver was snapped back to reality by the roar of Frank Zhang who was in the form of a Dragon flying overhead. The dragon ducked down over the S.H.I.E.L.D. forces and proceeded to roast them, clearing up the central arm of the advancing Demigod Army. The aim of the Centre was to clear the immediate area then advance to the road. The right-wing would break off halfway through and clear the forest and the left would secure the beach. Oliver shot an arrow into an advancing agents side before a Demigod clubbed him over the head with a golden sword. The Greek Demigods were all using Roman weapons. Apparently, their Celestial Bronze weaponry only worked on monsters, that way they didn't hurt humans by accident, the Imperial Gold killed monsters and humans alike. Two more arrows away and Oliver hazarded a look across his shoulder behind him. He spotted three demigod bodies and twenty S.H.I.E.L.D. agents lying on the grass of Half-Blood Hill. So far they seemed to have minimum casualties, but that would change if Percy and Annabeth couldn't secure the beach and the Quinjets and other ocean-based transports parked along it.

Meanwhile, across the battlefield, Annabeth Chase had found herself face to face with Brock Rumlow. With the constant use of lightning by Thor and Jason disrupting communications, the S.H.I.E.L.D. commander had run for the beach to call in an aerial strike. But he had taken a wound to the leg in Black Canary's initial shockwave and the journey was taking longer than expected. Annabeth found him leaning against a tree 50 metres from the beach.

"Well, well, well. Brock Rumlow. I should have known it would be you behind this. Who else would sign up for attacking a sanctuary full of children?"

Rumlow looked up and snarled at Annabeth.

"Do I know you?"

"Not particularly no. But I know you very well. See I'm good friends with Katelyn O'Neill, formally Katelyn Sheppard, who you put in a wheelchair for life nine years ago. I spent a long time considering what I'd do if I ever crossed paths with you. See I kill monsters for a living. And a man who shoots kids for no reason, that's one hell of a monster."

* * *

"Josh!" Katelyn yelled as we all went flying. I created 6 grappling clamps and secured Cassie, Katelyn, Coulson, May, Hal and myself to the carrier deck. The Quinjet, Cyborg Fury and Kate's wheelchair both fell out the hanger door and into free fall. The Helicarrier was now on a 45-degree slope with the hanger door directly beneath us. An explosion caused a piece of scaffolding to fly past us, momentarily breaking my concentration. We all slipped a few metres before I caught us again.

"Focus Dragon! You stop concentrating and we all fall to our deaths!" Agent May yelled. I am having the weirdest sense of déjà vu right now.

"Warning, Ring power down to 10%." The ring warned.

"How long can you hold us?" Coulson asked.

"About 20 minutes assuming nothing else happens."

"Josh? How do we get out of this?" Cassie asked. She was scared. Very scared. Her eyes were bugging out of her head like my sisters use to when she got afraid or surprised.

We slipped another few metres.

"Focus Dragon. Everybody stop talking. He doesn't need the distractions." May yelled.

* * *

Natasha just managed to get Clint on board the Quinjet when they were thrown out the hanger bay. Fortunately, the Quinjet plummeted nose first which meant that Hawkeye and Black Widow were both thrown into the cockpit instead of out the cargo door. Natasha quickly adjusted to the feeling of weightlessness and grabbed hold of the steering wheel. A few metres from the ground she managed to flick the thrusters on and brought the jet to a full stop above the Golden Gate Bridge.

"Crap my head! What did I miss?" Clint winced as he pulled himself up from the floor. Nat gestured upwards to the Helicarrier, which was currently on its side slowly plummeting towards San Francisco Bay.

"The starboard engines must still be working. That's what's keeping the carrier in the air." Barton stated, ignoring what was probably a concussion and jumping over Nat to land in the pilot seat. Nat dropped down next to him.

Clint pushed the thrusters forward and the Quinjet shot back into the sky. As the jet approached the carrier Clint's statement appeared to be false. All the engines had failed save one. An engine on the port side which was forcing the ship down. The only thing stopping it from crashing into the city with the force of a nuke. A spec of red and blue pushing against the carrier. Superman.

* * *

When I saw the Quinjet slowly rise into the hanger I think I prayed to every single god in existence. The cargo ramp lowered down and there was Natasha Romanoff standing with her hand outstretched. A literal godsend.

"Superman's holding up the carrier for now. We need to get out of here." She yelled. Barton, who I assumed was piloting the jet, moved the craft so the ramp was only a few cm from where Cassie was pinned. I lowered her onto the ramp and Natasha caught her as the tether dematerialised. Cassie might suddenly be able to fly, but I was not taking any chances she actually remembered how she did it in the first place. Next up was Katelyn – Natasha had to carry her inside and place her on one of the chairs –, then Coulson, Hal and finally May. Once everyone was aboard the Quinjet I flew up and landed on the ramp, which closed behind me.

"Thank you," I said to everyone assembled.

"It's our fault. We should have realised what S.H.I.E.L.D. had become much earlier." Coulson said extending his hand. I took it and nodded.

"We can debate whose fault this is later. Right now we have to help Superman." Katelyn said, pulling herself upright.

Clark was struggling to keep the Helicarrier in the sky. The port engine was still forcing the ship down so all he could do without crushing the ship and anyone still on it was hold it up. He couldn't let go to destroy the remaining engine or the ship would plummet. He also had no idea if Josh, Kate and Cassie had made it out. He assumed not because he would have heard them. Add to that he couldn't see Hal anywhere.

"Superman!"

Clark smiled as he picked up Josh calling his name with his super hearing.

"I'm in a Quinjet with Kate, Cassie, Hal and some agents who helped us escape. We're about to blow up the remaining engine. Get ready."

Clark braced himself for the loss of downward propulsion. As expected, accompanied by a large boom, the carrier all of a sudden stopped accelerating and Clark was finally able to level it out. With a sigh of relief, Clark began lowering the Helicarrier down to the ground.

"That's Part 1," Superman whispered to himself.

* * *

Annabeth found Percy standing inside a hurricane formed partially by him, partially by Thor who was floating above him launching his hammer and the few remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. She watched as the last agent was drowned and electrocuted both at the same time before walking as close to the miniature natural disaster as she dared.

"Boys! The Beach is ours!" she yelled. Both of them seemed to hear her and the storm slowly dissipated.

"Well done, Son of Poseidon. That storm will go down in the legends of your people I am sure." Thor yelled as he landed on earth. He slapped Percy on the back and accidentally sent him face first into the sand. Frank who had just transformed back into his human form, burst out laughing. Annabeth had to admit it was pretty funny. As Percy was pulling himself up Green Arrow and Black Canary walked up behind her. She had serious respect for the duo. They had risked their lives to help a group of people they had never even met before just because someone had asked them too. And she also respected their desire for their names to remain anonymous. That was the superhero way.

"Ah! Arrow of Green and Canary of Black, this was a fine battle was it not?"

"It certainly was. This is a lot above what we usually do. We generally just save people from muggers and take down crime syndicates. This is our first taste of a full-scale war." Black Canary said scratching her head.

"If it makes you feel better I fought my first battle at fifteen, first war at 16. It doesn't get any easier with time." Annabeth said with a weak smile to show she didn't mean any offence.

Black Canary looked like she would have said something more but Thor interrupted her.

"How fares the other sides of this battle?"

"We've taken the road and the car park. Nico and Hazel are rounding up the last of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents in the forests. We won." Green Arrow said taking a deep breath.

"Good. Then that's part 2 complete." Thor stated, hooking his hammer on his belt.

"Any news from the Helicarrier or the Triskelion?" Black Canary asked.

"Nay. But we stick to the plan. We must head to the Triskelion to settle this once and for all." Thor said. The God of Thunder looked up to the sky and the dark clouds started to part. In the distance, the sun was beginning to sink below the Appalachian Mountains.

"We must leave now if we are to aid the others," Thor said before walking towards one of the five Quinjets parked on the beach.

Annabeth took Percy's hand and followed Thor and the two vigilantes into one of the Quinjets, Frank following behind them.

"Thanks for agreeing to help us with this last part of the plan," Green Arrow said once Black Canary had launched the jet into the sky.

"It's no problem, really. Since the War of the Gods we've spent a lot of time with the League and I would put my life on the line for anyone of them, the same as I would for any of my own people here," Annabeth said firmly, "And I'm sure the others think the same way."

"Definitely. Besides, I've still got to make up for the whole attempted murder last year." Frank said with a shy laugh.

Percy groaned and lifted his head up from his knees where it had been sitting, "Have I ever told you how much I hate flying?"

* * *

"Miss Gordon, have you reached the vault yet?"

"I'm at the door now," Barbara said as she approached the thick metal door deep within the lower levels of the Triskelion.

"The authorisation code for the door is 456327984."

Babs typed the code into the access panel and the door slowly slid open. Sliding a smoke bomb and a Batarang from her belt, she rolled the tiny detonator into the room before slipping inside. The room was full of smoke now and Babs activated her heat-seeking lenses. She counted three bodies, two armed one not. Sneaking to the side of the doorway, she let her Batarang fly before launching herself at the other guard, who was a woman it turned out and fly kicked her in the face. A quick right hook to the guard with the Batarang in his arm and he was out cold. Babs walked out of the smoke and confronted the final figure, a man with greyed hair in a lab coat. He took one look at her and ran for the door.

Barbara walked up a single stair to what looked like an observation platform. There were a number of holoscreens displaying vital signs. Babs peered over the railing and gasped. She hadn't believed Stark when he told her what he had found. There was no doubting him now. The observation deck was overlooking a pool of water with a capsule of ice floating on top. Trapped inside the ice was a man.

"Stark. You were right. I've found Captain America."

* * *

Barry ran up the side of the Triskelion and used the height and momentum to jump to the final Helicarrier. He landed on the deck and immediately had to dodge a piece of debris thrown in his direction by Hulk. Shaking it off Barry phased through the floor and dropped down to what he assumed was the engine room. Quickly disarming the few guards he moved over to the control console.

"Cisco, I'm in the engine room of the Helicarrier what now?"

"Ok, Barry. Listen to me very carefully."

* * *

Superman laid the wrecked Helicarrier down on a nature reserve outside the city. The Quinjet landed a few metres away and Clark ran over to it to get a glimpse of the others. The ramp dropped down and Josh – carrying Katelyn – Cassie and Hal were the first ones out.

"Thanks for the save man. My ring wouldn't work against him." Hal was saying.

"Don't mention it, you would have done the same for me."

"Josh! Katelyn!" Clark yelled.

"Clark. What brings you here on this fine… uh, what day is it?" Josh asked.

"Thursday."

"I thought it was Monday?" Cassie asked confused. That was when Clark noticed Cassie's armour.

"Cassie, what are you wearing?"

"Armour, it grew out of the bracelets." She said as if it was a perfect explanation. Clark glanced to Katelyn who just shook her head in a gesture that said: "don't ask."

"And you didn't answer my question," the six-year-old pointed out.

Clark scratched his head, "well you see you've been umm… what do you remember?"

"We just got back from London, we walked into the house and there was this flashy thing. I… then I woke up in Josh's arms? Did something happen?"

Josh and Kate let out a sigh of relief. Clark understood it. If Cassie couldn't remember anything between getting taken and waking up nothing had likely happened to her.

"We'll talk about it later Cas. We need to get some real clothes because my ring is about to die, but first I want to know what's happening. Where's everyone else?" Josh said.

Clark took a deep breath and started explaining about Project Clean-Slate and everyone that had been captured. He told them about Kara and the Demigods. Then the League calling in back-up to launch an all-out attack against S.H.I.E.L.D.

The trio were visibly silent for a few minutes, Clark had a feeling they were talking in their heads.

"What can we do to help?" Josh asked eventually.

"Nothing. Take the Quinjet back to Stark Tower with your agent friends. Lantern and I have some unfinished business at the Triskelion."

* * *

The Quinjet carrying Thor, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Annabeth, Percy and Frank dropped down through the cloud layer over the Triskelion.

"Looks like Babs found Hulk." Canary pointed out as she flew over the Helicarrier.

"I thought the Helicarrier was in California?" Green Arrow stated confused.

"Maybe they have another one?" Frank suggested.

"Who cares? We're going to blow it up anyway." Percy pointed out.

"Good point son of Poseidon. Canary could you please open the back door. Mjolnir thirsts for more destruction."

Canary didn't wait to obey Thor's command. The door opened and Thor took flight.

"We should probably follow him," Frank said before walking with Percy to the ramp. Annabeth walked to the cockpit where Canary and Arrow were sitting.

"Think you know what you're doing?" Canary asked.

"Yep. Get down there and scream your heart out Canary."

Dinah laughed and put the jet on autopilot, before jumping out of the pilot seat to let Annabeth slide in. Just as she was about to join the others she called back, "Dinah Annabeth. My names Dinah." With that, she pushed Percy and Frank out the back of the jet. Annabeth had to admit she loved hearing Percy scream before she closed the door.

"Let's do this thing Green Arrow," Annabeth said to her co-pilot and gunner.

"Definitely, and call me Oliver."

"Sure."

Frank turned into a giant eagle and caught Percy and Dinah in his talons. He flew them past the Helicarrier, where Thor had joined Hulk in his efforts to destroy the flying fortress piece by piece, and down to the main entrance of the Triskelion. Dinah used her sonic scream to blow the doors off their supports. They flew open and Dinah had to admit what she saw was quite possibly the weirdest thing she had ever seen. Barbara and a black man were pushing an anti-grav medical bed with a man… frozen in ice? Two women and another guy all wearing S.H.I.E.L.D. tactical gear were bringing up the year shooting some sort of modified pistols at another group of agents that were advancing on them. Percy sprang into action. He caused the water pipes beneath the enemy agents to burst. Streams of water burst up through the thin layer of concrete and caused the distraction he needed for Frank to shape-shift into an elephant and charge them.

Everyone stared, shocked.

"Damn." The man helping Babs with the ice man stated.

"Why can't I do that?" The other man asked the blonde woman next to him.

"Cool." Was all the brown-haired woman said.

"Now is not the time for gawking!" Batgirl snapped and everyone sprang back into action. Frank changed back to normal and ran back to the group with Percy. The brunette tapped the comm in her ear and signaled someone while Dinah helped with the ice bed, taking a look at the man trapped inside.

"Is that who I think it is?"

"Yep."

"And you found him how?"

"Stark."

"Speaking of Stark." The blonde woman said pointing to the penthouse where Iron Man had just flown out from. He turned north and blasted away.

"Where's he going?" one of the men asked.

"He's got another mission," Dinah said sternly, indicating she wasn't going to say anymore, "And who are you guys?"

"Names Trip." The dark-skinned man said with a small wave.

"Bobbi," the blonde stated.

"Skye," the brunette clarified with a smile

"Lance Hunter and I'd be more than happy to teach you a bit more about myself if you'd like." The final man stated before he was slapped on the back of the head by Bobbi.

"Ew," Dinah stated, faking a gag.

"They're helping us. They set Banner free and helped me get Bruce Wayne and the other civilians out." Barbara quickly stated. The group ran out onto the bridge connecting the Triskelion to the mainland and watched as a large black C-17 landed 50metres in front of them and lowered the cargo ramp down.

"Nice plane," Frank stated.

"Not another one." Percy groaned.

"Guys," Barbara said pointing up to the Helicarrier which was diving nose first straight for the underwater hanger.

* * *

Barry ran up to the control room, knocking about 50 people unconscious on the way. As he ran inside he just missed more of the modified red cylinders that he had been shot with earlier. Not. Cool. He charged up a lightning bolt and hit all three guards with bolts of lightning before glocking the five remaining agents into their computer screens.

"Warning, Warning. Gravitational disturbance detected." The computer began yelling. Barry looked up through the skylight to see Superman drop out of the sky, smashing down into the hull of the carrier.

"Deploying Kryptonite weaponry." The computer stated.

"Yeah let's not do that," Barry mumbled and began typing into the computer as Cisco instructed on the other side of the comm.

A few minutes later Barry stood back and smiled.

"Manual override accepted. Kryptonite weapons shutting down."

"Your welcome!" Barry yelled to no-one in particular.

Suddenly the window crashed in and Green Lantern flew in throwing up a construct wall behind Barry. The Flash spun around to see an agent had shot one of the red cylinder speed bullets at him. Fortunately, the bullet had bounced harmlessly off Hal's wall. A green construct hammer sent the would-be attacker to sleep and the wall disappeared.

"Good timing," Barry said with a smirk.

"Josh and the others got out ok. They had help from the inside." Hal told him as he landed next to Barry.

"Music to my ears," Barry said before an evil grin appeared on his face.

"Barry…"

"Better hold onto your ring Hal. It gonna be a bumpy ride." The Flash said before taking the steering handles and pointing the carrier straight down.

* * *

"Run!" Dinah yelled and the eight people, with the frozen iceman they were escorting, ran for the plane. Trip pushed the medical bed up into the cargo hold as Percy, Frank, Dinah, Babs, Lance and Bobbi jumped inside. Skye hit the ramp activation button as she jumped in and yelled into her ear comm.

"Fitz! Go! Go! GO!" The plane jerked and Dinah felt the craft lift off into the sky. She followed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents upstairs into a main compartment and watched the scene unfold on the television screen which was beaming in footage from ABC, who it seemed had a camera crew on the roof of a nearby building, broadcasting the entire battle to the world.

* * *

"Hal we are going to need one hell of a shield," Barry said.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hal yelled. He had a construct grapple securing himself and Barry to the deck of the plunging carrier.

"I've got my finger on the big red button so to speak."

"This is not what I signed up for!"

Clark, Thor and Hulk were thrown to the deck as Barry plunged the carrier downwards. Clark quickly looked up to the bridge and used his x-ray vision to see Flash and Green Lantern inside controlling it.

"Thor! We need to bail!" Clark yelled.

"Eye!" With a twirl of his hammer, Thor leapt off the deck and grabbed Hulk, who was desperately trying not to fall off the ship.

"Come master Hulk! We must away!" Thor flew away holding Hulk by the arm with one hand and Mjolnir with the other. Clark shot away and hovered next to what looked like a modified C-17 which he could hear Dinah and Barbara's voices coming from and Annabeth and Oliver's Quinjet.

Even he was impressed by what happened next. The Helicarrier nose dipped into the hanger bay and the ship exploded from the inside. The engines detonated, throwing chunks of decking, wings, propellers, fuel, and weaponry all across the area. Most of it rained down into the hanger, destroying all that remained of the other Helicarriers still inside, but some of it fell into the sea, putting out the superhot fires. One of the larger fragments hit the side of the hanger door, collapsing it inwards and letting the water pour inside. A green ball of light flew up out of the wreck and Clark couldn't help but laugh. Barry was doing what could only be described as a victory dance and Hal was covering his eyes so he didn't have to watch it.

"So Supes, What did you think of my early Christmas present to S.H.I.E.L.D?" Barry yelled. The smile on his face was massive.

"I think you have a flare for the dramatic," Clark told him through his laughter.

Clark smiled as he looked at the smoke billowing from almost every floor of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s once mighty headquarters.

"Justice League, this is Superman. Part 3 is complete. I repeat. Part 3 is complete. The Triskelion has fallen."


	22. The Expansion Agenda

Event -  Justice League: The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. (#5)

> _“Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world – “No, you move.””_

_– Captain America_

#  The Expansion Agenda

* * *

 

**Stark Tower, New York City**

**November 28 th, 2026**

I was sitting on the couch in the common room of Kara’s floor of the tower putting the finishing touches on the P.R. packet my underlings had come up with. Clark and Barry were sitting opposite me. Clark was dozing but Barry was on his phone. It had been a week since the Justice League had taken down S.H.I.E.L.D. and the entire team, including each individual member’s support team, families and everyone who had helped with the takedown had been confined to the tower. No one had left, no one except Stark who had disappeared after a long talk with Wayne behind closed doors.

Kara woke up after five days in a coma, the radiation from the bullets finally making its way out of her system. She still hadn’t gotten her powers back yet and was spending most of her time asleep in her room, but she got up to walk around and eat every few hours. Barry and Clark took turns watching her. It was adorable in a creepy, stalker sort of way and Kara found it very annoying.

They had also figured out how to remove Cassie’s armour. All they had to do was remove the bracelets and the armour disappeared. It had stumped Banner to no end. The only lead they had was that Riker Celestial had said they were “inhuman in design.” Not that anyone had any idea what inhuman meant. But it had confirmed Cassie’s status as a Demigod. As soon as Percy walked into the tower and saw Cassie, he had remarked that it explained the smell of electricity in the air. When he refused to say more Kate had not so subtly invaded his head, revealing that Cassie was in fact a Daughter of Zeus. She appeared to be invulnerable to the same degree as Clark was and could fly, although she didn’t appear to have power over electricity like the other known children of Zeus did.

Poseidon and Hecate had appeared in Camp Half-Blood a few hours after the battle to assist in the clean-up. They had also opened a permanent portal between the Camp and the level of the tower Stark had allocated to the Demigods. The way Poseidon explained it, the Olympians were under arrest for violating something called the Accords and they had been placed under house arrest in Olympus. Poseidon had placed an appeal to be allowed to come to Earth and help the Demigods but had only been granted clearance a few minutes before they had arrived. The gods helped erase any knowledge of the camp's presence from the surrounding human residents and restored the integrity of the magical barriers before leaving.

Captain America’s icy form was, for the lack of a better alternative, in Starks 10m2 refrigerator. I am not joking. Banner had spent all his time searching through the S.H.I.E.L.D. data we obtained for a way to ‘defrost’ the hero without killing him but had so far found nothing.

The world was in uproar over the whole S.H.I.E.L.D. issue. The League had effectively destroyed the agency and as a result, the U.S. Government had been blinded. Anti-superhuman groups were threatening blood and the pro-superhuman groups were being uncharacteristically silent. Stark Industries share price had plummeted and opinion polls had the Justice League’s and superhumans in general as low 33% favourable.

Every intelligence agency was trying to contact them. The FBI and CIA had sent representatives to wade through the crowd that was permanently entrenched around the Tower base. Even President Ellis had called the tower. All had been turned down. But the League couldn’t hide forever and the Stark Industries P.R. team had been working day and night to come up with the best way to turn all the negative superhuman stigma on its head. In the end, we decided the best option would be a press conference broadcast live worldwide on all the major networks. The conference was being set up per my every command. This was what I was good at, and this was quite possibly the most important P.R. event I would ever put together (boy was I wrong). The conference would be starting in a little under 3 hours and everything was ready. Except Stark was still missing.

 

“Wake up Kara,” Bruce said from the hallway causing all three of us to jump. We hadn’t noticed he was there, which begged the question of how long he had been.

“Stark wants to show us something.” The vigilante walked out of the room as quietly as he walked in.

“I’ll get her,” Clark said softly before putting his glasses back on and moving to Kara’s room. A few minutes later Kara came out wearing a Flash onesie. Barry and I both had to stop ourselves from laughing.

“Oh shut it you two.”

 

We met up with Wayne, Banner and Stark on the helipad. It was early afternoon and the sun was hanging low in the sky.

“What’s this about? Shouldn’t we be getting ready? And where have you been Stark?” Barry asked as we walked up to them. We were all still wearing casual clothes, Kara had changed out of her pj’s though.

“It warms my heart that you cared enough to notice my absence Speedy,” Stark said with a raised eyebrow. Banner rolled his eyes.

“Where are the others?” Clark asked.

“I was just wondering the same thing.” Banner said turning towards Tony and Bruce.

“Bats thought it would be better if this was just the seven of us. The Original Team as it were.” Stark said with a shrug.

“The events of the past week have proved that we need to be better co-ordinated. We need to be faster, we need to be stronger and I’m not talking about in the physical sense. We are supposed to be Earth’s last line of defence against threats of a metahuman, godly or alien nature and S.H.I.E.L.D. took us apart like cotton candy. What if Darkseid attacked again while we were down. And we know he’s going to come back eventually. The planet wouldn’t have survived. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attack crippled a team that can’t be crippled. We have to always be ready for whatever comes next and right now we aren’t.” Bruce said. While it hurt to hear, the vigilante wasn’t wrong I realised. What might have happened if something had attacked while half of us were out of the picture?

 

“So… how do we get better?” Kara asked the question on everyone’s lips.

“We don’t need to get better. As a unit our coordination is brilliant. The composition of the team brings together a counter for every threat out there in the most effective way possible. Brains, Brawn, Power and Stealth. Human, God, Alien and Meta. And we all trust the other to make the right call, no matter the situation or the personal cost.” Wayne’s eyes moved from me to Clark as he said that last sentence.

“I don’t get it,” Barry said with a shrug.

“The answer isn’t being better. We need to go bigger.”

 

“Jarvis!” Stark called out, a massive grin appearing on his face, “Transport the Justice League to the Watchtower.”

The ground started glowing a golden colour and the sky above us opened up with a boom. We all flew up into the portal and were spat out in a large room with dark metal walls. I flew out of the portal and landed face first on the floor. Clark fell on top of me. He’s a lot heavier than he looks let me tell you.

We all jumped up to our feet and glared at Stark.   
“What the hell was that!” I snapped.

“I’ve been experimenting with the Boom Tube Technology we recovered from Darkseid’s invasion. About a year and a half ago I figured it out and had this place commissioned.” Stark explained, gesturing for the group to follow him.

“Where are we?” Kara asked.

“Welcome to the Watchtower, Stark Industries top-secret space station.” Tony gestured upwards as we walked into some sort of control room. The room was dominated by a large skylight in the roof that looked down on the planet below.

“We’re in space!!” Barry yelled. Suddenly he disappeared and we watched as a streak of lightning raced through the structure.

“How did I not know about this?” I asked.

“It’s kind of the point of a top-secret space station.” Stark pointed out.

“Do you know how people would react if word got out that you have a fucking satellite that you can teleport up to at will?” I yelled.

“Again, hence the top-secret bit,” Stark said beforehand reactivating a console in the middle of the room. Suddenly a holographic screen appeared displaying seven symbols connected by glowing blue lines. A type of web.

“This is us,”

The map was arranged into five groups. Two S shields were displayed at the head of the web. On the right was a bat symbol. On the left a comet. At the bottom were a lightning bolt and a blue triangle reminiscent of Starks arc reactor. A green fist connected to the triangle.

“Outside the league, there are the five families.” Bruce continued. Batman stated pointing to the screen, “five families. The Super Family. The Bat Family. The Flash Family. The Dragon Family. The Marvel Family.”

“I named the last one,” Stark quickly pointed out.

 

Suddenly 20 odd symbols appeared around the original seven, all connected to one of the seven by a green line.

“The Bats: Me, Batgirl, Nightwing and Red Robin. The Supers: Superman, Supergirl, Shazam, Steel, Martian Manhunter and Starfire.”

“I did not recognise half of those names.” Banner stated.

“Starfire and the Martian are from my neck of the woods.” Kara quickly explained. Wayne ignored them both, continuing with his speech.

“The Flash Family: Green Arrow, Black Canary, the redhead speedster you’ve been training, Firestorm and Atom.”

“Rip off,” Stark mumbled.

“The Dragons: Josh, Katelyn and the Lanterns.”

“And the Marvels: Iron Man, War Machine, Spider-man and Thor.”

“Makes sense,” Clark said.

“Then there are the groups,” Wayne said as four purple symbols appeared on screen, “The Demigods connect to the Dragon Family. The Asgardians connect to Thor and the Marvel Family. The SHIELD agents who helped us are on their own at the moment, until we decide what to do with them. Then there are the New York Street heroes, like the Daredevil and this Luke Cage person.”

“I’ve worked with Daredevil, reminds me of you Batman, he’s a good guy,” I said.

“Good to know. This is where it gets harder.” Bruce pressed another button and several red Symbols with no connections appeared.

“The SHIELD files had information on a lot more heroes then we thought there were. Blue Beetle, Doctor Strange, Zatanna, Black Panther, Cyborg, Captain Marvel, Huntress, Ant-Man, Wasp. The list goes on. I think we should bring them into the fold.”

“Why?” Barry asked confused.

“We need to get bigger,” Clark said, comprehension dawning in his eyes.

“I don’t get it?”

“I do,” I said, catching on. “The Justice League needs to be more than just the seven of us with Kate on computers and the occasional help from Thor. What if we aren’t available? With a bigger team, we can handle more situations at once and greater challenges with better odds.”

“We’re the world’s greatest heroes, surely we are supposed to be better than street level heroes?” Kara stated, unconvinced.

“I’m a street-level hero let’s not forget,” Bruce pointed out, “there are heroes out there with much more power than me.”

“Some of those ‘street heroes’ would surprise you. You don’t know what people like Jessica Jones and the Demigods have been through.” I said.

“Ok. I understand that, but, you said it yourself Bruce we work together like a well-oiled team. If we introduce all these new guys, how are we supposed to work together?”

“Practice. Training. We get better. And we get stronger.”

 

“We have held for so long,” Stark said, an uncharacteristic steel in his voice, “but there is something looming past the horizon. We can’t see it, but it’s coming. It’s going to be too much, and too soon – and we have to get ready now. We’ll keep this quiet until they’re needed. Specific people for specific needs. But they’ll be out there. Ready… waiting… and then, when that day comes, all we have to do is say the words and we’ll assemble the greatest force the world has ever known.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That concludes the second arc of the story and Cap is now in the picture. It's always bugged me how they just defrost him with no thought for possible side effects so I factored that into my narrative. Hope you enjoyed the change. This chapter draws inspiration and some direct passages from Avengers (2012) #1, One of my favourite MARVEL Comics runs of all time.  
> The next and final arc is 12 chapters long and is called the Multiverse Crisis. It explores the relationship between Thor and the mysterious Asmerians, a trip across time and space, plus the return of Darkseid. After that already have the first arc of the sequel written and am working on the second, plus working on a spin-off which will not be posted for a very long time. Depending on how much I get done in the next twelve or so weeks I may or may not take a break between the end of this one and the start of the sequel.   
> Please tell me what you think of the story and my writing style. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions.


	23. Multiverse Crisis Part 1: Summons from on High

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: This chapter marks the introduction of the Stargate Mythos. I won't be using the shows themselves in this story, but the characters some of you may be familiar with from Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis will be showing up in the sequel.
> 
> Disclaimer: Rights to all characters and places in the story belong to their respective owners.

Event - Multiverse Crisis (#1)

#  Summons from On High

 

**Central Park, New York City**

**March 3 rd, 2027**

In Central Park there was a rocky outcrop overlooking the second, smaller lake. The outcrop, for the most part, wasn’t visited regularly. After all, there were much more interesting things to see. At least, that’s what an earth native would say. Human, mutant, demigod and metahuman alike. Because in reality, it was the most important location in the park. The rocks were positioned in such a way that sitting adjacent to the shore of the lake, invisible to the naked eye, was a large grey metal ring called a Stargate. Etched around the ring were 39 symbols representing star constellations and nine orange triangles called chevrons. Only 7 of the chevrons were visible, the other two being buried underground. A few meters away, and equally invisible, was a large object made from the same metal as the Stargate called a DHD (or Dial Home Device.) It carried all 39 of the symbols on the gate plus a large orange half sphere. The Stargate, as its name suggested, was a device with the ability to transport anyone or anything anywhere in the Omniverse, no matter the distance, physical or metaphysical obstacle.

Suddenly the seven visible chevrons lit up a golden colour, and the space inside the ring was filled with a bright blue light before what appeared to be water exploded outwards into the air with a whoosh. The blue substance was then sucked back into the ring, settling once more into the space inside it. The inside of the ring looked like the surface of an ocean on a clear day with not an ounce of wind. Tiny ripples echoed across its surface making the softest of squishing sounds. And no one noticed.

A petite woman with long blonde hair curled into ringlets stepped out. She had extremely pale skin and brilliant emerald green eyes. Her garb did not match the era she had stepped out into though. She wore a flowing white dress, with a thin layer of shimmery gold fabric covering her shoulders and flowing out behind her, attached to silver bands on her forearms. White energy seemed to fall off her as she moved.

The woman studied her surroundings, and her gaze lit up when she saw Stark Tower. Not taking her eyes off it, the white energy surrounding her rose up behind her and formed a pair of large white wings. Without anyone taking notice, she launched into the air, using the wings to propel her towards the top off the tower.

* * *

**Stark Tower**

I was sitting on the couch in the Stark Tower penthouse, vaguely listening to the debate the League was having.

“We’ve only managed to process a third of the data we gained from S.H.I.E.L.D.” Batman was saying. “It’s true most of it is boring logistical information, but Katelyn, Stark, Barbara and I, have found a number of interesting things so far.”

“You’re forgetting the help we had from the team of S.H.I.E.L.D agents.” Barbara pointed out and Bruce scowled.

“I know you don’t like them Bruce, but they have been a lot of help in planning missions and training the new recruits to take down Hydra strongholds.” Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing pointed out.

“I don’t like them because they captured half of us, almost killed Kara and tortured Josh and Banner. So, forgive me for being sceptical Dick.”

“But they did help us a lot during our takedown of S.H.I.E.L.D,” Clark pointed out.

“It all sounds too convenient to me, like shifting the blame from one point to the other. Oh, S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to capture and experiment on us. No, actually, Hydra an evil organisation from World War II, who are associated with the fucking Nazi’s, have been controlling S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades and replaced Nick Fury with a robot version powered by fear energy. One big pile of convenience pie.” Kara stated, rolling her eyes.

“Kara language please,” Clark said with a sigh.

“I’ve been spending too much time around Josh,” Kara said with a laugh.

“I’m with Kara and Bruce, I don’t trust them,” Barry admitted.

“Skye and Trip defrosted me in S.H.I.E.L.D. I think we should be thanking them not treating them suspiciously.” Banner said with a shrug.

“Why don’t we just give them the benefit of the doubt?” Katelyn said, moving her chair closer to the assembled heroes.

 

Over the past few months Katelyn had changed considerably, particularly around the mid-section. She was five months pregnant, so that was bound to happen. But the big change – aside from the baby bump that is – was that she had become very quiet. Somehow, the baby had amplified her powers to the eleven. She was sensing everything, without even trying, and it only got worse as the pregnancy wore on. Usually she could just hear the people in the building she was in, but two months in she was sensing the thoughts and emotions from everyone in the suburb. As it stood currently, she could hear almost every thought in Manhattan and the closer sections of Queens and Brooklyn. As a result, everyone had agreed not to raise their voices around her, as yelling only added to the permanent headache she had, and she refrained from talking out loud if she could avoid it.

 

“And if Secret Agent man and his gang decide to betray us, I had JARVIS prepare a list of painful demises we can inflict upon them,” Stark said with a smirk. He then poured himself a margarita from the bar and took a sip.

“I’d like to see that list,” Barry said with a grin. Kara just rolled her eyes.

“Billy? What are you thinking?” Clark asked the magical hero.

“Leave me out of it.” Billy said, raising his hands in surrender, “I wasn’t even there during the whole S.H.I.E.L.D/Hydra thing. So, don’t ask me.”

“I’d be dead if it wasn’t for agents Romanoff and Barton arriving with that Quinjet as the Helicarrier was going down, so they have my support,” Hal said.

“I was on the plane with the Agents after we busted out with Cap. They seemed just as shocked as Babs and I were about the whole thing. If anything, I feel kind of sorry for them. Imagine if the institution you fought for crumbled all around you and you discovered you were actually doing the dirty work for a bunch of Nazi’s? I know I’d be pretty pissed.” Dinah said.

“Let’s take a look at it objectively,” Oliver said. “It’s possible that they could be Hydra, but, they set us free and helped us rescue Hydra’s mortal enemy, Captain America. Since then they have been helping us with decoding and analysing all the S.H.I.E.L.D data we collected. And they have even helped plan and execute some very successful raids against Hydra targets. Why would they do any of that if they were working for Hydra?”

“I think you’re all forgetting something. If they wanted to hurt or betray us, don’t you think I would know about it?’ Katelyn said, raising her hands in the air.

“Forgive me if I don’t put 100% faith in your telepathic abilities while you’re in your current condition Katelyn,” Bruce said.

Bruce is and always would be a good friend, but insulting Katelyn was still not a good idea. Especially not to my face.

“Watch your tone Bruce,” I said, glaring at the Dark Knight.

“My apologies Katelyn,” Bruce said, deciding not to take me on.

“I think we should put it to a vote. We are all equals here after all.” I said.

“Agreed,” Clark said, nodding in my direction.

“All those in favour,” I asked.

Clark, Hal, Barbara, Dick, Banner, Olly, Dinah, Katelyn and I all raised our hands.

“And against.”

Bruce, Barry, Stark and Kara raised their hands.

Billy declined to vote.

“So we have 9 votes for and 4 against with 1 abstaining. That’s a 64% swing in favour. Sorry Bruce but you’ve been outvoted. The S.H.I.E.L.D team gets to keep their freedom for now.” I told him. To his credit he acknowledged defeat.

“But I think we are all still in agreement that they aren’t allowed to leave the Tower?” I asked.

Everybody nodded their heads. The team still had a long way to go until they earned that right.

 

“Sir, there appears to be a woman dressed in a medieval fashion flying above the helipad.” JARVIS’s alert rang out through the Tower.

“What?!” Clark yelled.

“Flying above you say? Is she wearing panties?” Stark asked innocently. Everyone just looked at him.

“I think that was what we were all wondering,” Hal admitted. Barbara didn’t say a word but gave him a slap on the back of the head.

“Is she carrying any weapons?” I asked.

“No, Sir. And Mr Stark I cannot tell.” JARVIS replied.

 

“You do know it is extremely rude not to invite guests inside.” The girl said, her voice somehow travelling through walls. The Justice League did not know how to reply to that, but the Bats grabbed their weapons, as did Oliver. The rest of the League exchanged anxious glances, and they all ran outside. The unarmed among them wished they had their weapons.

 

True to JARVIS observation there was, in fact, a woman dressed in Ancient Greek fashion hovering above the helipad. What the A.I had neglected to mention that she had large white bird wings that she was using to remain in the air.

“My name is Anneliese of the House Celestial. I am an Angel and sister to Riker Celestial, who I am told you have previously encountered.” The newly named Anneliese said. It was unnerving that she was the sister of my doppelgänger, this was probably what my sister Claire would have looked like if she had had the chance to grow up, but with calming thoughts from Katelyn I moved on.

“Encountered would be an understatement,” I said dryly.

“It often is when it comes to my brother.” She replied.

“Why can’t I sense your thoughts?” Kate queried, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

“You can sense the thoughts of mortals. I am not mortal in case you hadn’t guessed.”

“What do you want?” Bruce asked, tired of the small talk.

“I have been sent on behalf of the High Council of the Ascended to bring the individuals Josh O’Neill, Katelyn O’Neill, Kal El of Krypton and Bruce Wayne to the Multiversity to testify in the trial of Zeus of House Olympus. What say you?”

 

“Do you have any proof of your claims. We have dealt with many an Ascended Being who have sought to trick us in the past three years.”

“Understandable. I have a message from Thor Odinson, proving my claims. Unfortunately, he was unable to come himself, being in the Asgardian Delegation.” She pulled what could only be described as a scroll from her gown, landed on the helipad, and handed it to Clark.

The Man of Steel raised an eyebrow, saying nothing. He unrolled the scroll, and the League crowded around him to get a look at it. What surprised them all was the fact that there was a video screen in the middle of the scroll.

A picture of Thor was on it, and when the scroll was fully unrolled it began to speak.

“ _Friends. I know it may be quite suspicious having one that you have not met coming to bring you to the Multiversity, but I assure you that Lady Anneliese is honourable. We have fought together many a time. I will meet you when you have come through the Stargate. This is a matter of great delicacy, and we need everyone who was involved here. Trust the Celestials.”_

 

“Shouldn’t we talk to the Demigods first? They were involved too.” Katelyn asked.

“No offence Kate, but I ain’t letting you go anywhere.”

“Uh, I beg your pardon?!” Katelyn said in a tone that made it clear I was in dangerous waters. It was probably a good idea to sleep on the couch tonight. I was thankful when the Angel interrupted the beginnings of an argument that would mentally flay me.

“Your husband is right Mrs O’Neill. It is dangerous for someone who is with child to travel via Stargate. If we had known before time of your condition we would have sent a ship to bring you to the Circle, but time is of the essence. And in answer to your earlier question, the Accords forbid any and all Downworlders from entering the Multiversity. That is a matter that caused and still causes great controversy between the Houses. As ironic as it is, as far as the Accords are concerned, Demigods count as Downworlders. We have already gotten statements from them, which have been played for the court before now.” Anneliese explained, saving my skin.

_“Don’t think that saves you mister.”_

I swallowed hard in what could only be described as pure fear.

“What’s a Downworlder? Kara asked. Strangely it was Barbara who answered.

“Downworlders are individuals who are humans with demon blood or demon afflictions. Why would Demigods be counted as Downworlders?”

“No way. You just quoted Mortal Instruments, didn’t you?” Dick asked. Babs ignored him.

“The Accords specify that anyone with half ascended or descended blood counts as a downworlder. Don’t ask me why. I didn’t write the Accords, no Angel did. My people were forced to sign them later.”

“Why?” Banner asked, curious.

“There was a…. disagreement between us and our Asmerian Brothers and Sisters,” Anneliese explained.

“So, you’re telling me the Mortal Instruments are true?!” Babs asked, excitement burning in her eyes.

“That particular recount occurs on Earth 185 I think. There are several dozen Shadowhunter Earths. The Nephilim are quite spread out.”

“Barbara you can fangirl later. Why now? The war occurred years ago?” I asked.  
“Years for you I’m sure. Time doesn’t exist as you understand it beyond your four-dimensional universe. The Ascended live in eighth-dimensional space. Time is irrelevant to us.”

 

“We have talked for too long. If Katelyn cannot come, then I am sure her husband can speak on her behalf. Time is of the essence. If there are no objections, you should don your suits, and come with me to the Stargate immediately.” Anneliese said, looking at a band of white energy around her right wrist as if it were a watch.

“Give us five minutes.” Clark requested.

“As you wish.” With that, the Angel disappeared in a flash of white light.

 

 

 


	24. The City of Seven Colours

Event - Multiverse Crisis (#2)

# The City of Seven Colours

 

* * *

**Stark Tower**

"So? That happened." Dick said as the Angel disappeared.

"I've seen some weird things. But Angels and criminal courts for Ascended beings? Sounds like something Walt Disney would come up with." Stark said, folding his arms and walking over to the place the Angel had stood, examining the ground.

"Why would she lie? Thor said that the Olympians broke some sort of truce between them. Maybe it was this Accords thing." Barry suggested.

"What harm could come if we do go with her?" Clark asked, no one in particular.

"Could be a trap." Batman pointed out.

"I doubt it. We are the only ones that even know the Asmerians even exist. Seems over the top for a trap." Katelyn said.

"A.T.M.A? Who is Anneliese Celestial and what are the Multiversity Accords?" I asked the ring, getting annoyed at the argument. There was a simple way to tell if the Angel was telling the truth. If the ring verified her claims then that was proof as far as I was concerned.

" _Access granted. Anneliese Celestial, Former Asmerian Goddess of Water and Ice. Daughter of the Primordial Asmerian God of Earth and Goddess of Life. One of the 52 survivors of the Pre-Big Bang Reality. Expert in Chaos Magic. Member of the Covenant of Angels and member of the Vorton Team. Sister to Riker Celestial."_

"Well, that clears that up," Babs mumbled.

"And the Multiversity Accords?" I asked again.

" _The Multiversity Accords are a treaty signed by almost every race or group of Ascended Beings or race of lower with in-depth knowledge of the Multiverse. The Accords were created to prevent another cataclysm like what happened in the Paradox Crisis, which resulted in the destruction of the Third Multiverse of Infinite Earth's. The Accords main purpose it to prevent Ascended Beings and other individuals with Multiversal knowledge from interfering with timelines and universes crucial to the fabric of reality and prevent conflict between Ascended Beings that could wipe out entire universes."_

Everyone was silent as they tried to process that.

"Just so we are clear I was not expecting that to work," I said. "Every time I ask it about Asmere or Riker Celestial it says. ' _Access Denied. Riker Celestial has disabled that information_.' It's like he does it just to piss me off."

"Well if he's your doppelgänger, he probably knows exactly what to do to piss you off." Dick reasoned.

"Well now that we have proved that what our flying visitor said was true, what are we going to do about it?" Oliver asked the obvious question.

"We go," I said.

"Why?" Billy asked.

"It's the chance to discover the secrets of reality itself, finally get an answer to the question that has been dogging me my entire life and we can get revenge on Zeus for killing me a couple of years ago. Why would we not go?" I queried.

Billy shrugged his shoulders.

"It's dangerous," Katelyn said.

I turned to her and dropped down to my knees, bringing myself to eye level with her.

"It's just a trip to the Ascended United Nations. We'll be fine. I swear everything will turn out okay. It's no different to any other mission." Kate nodded her head, but I could tell she wasn't convinced. Her hand strayed to her stomach.

"Then who should go?" Oliver asked.

"Me, Clark and Bruce. They requested us after all." I said, standing back up and facing the others.

"But who else?" he clarified.

"Does there need to be anyone else?"

"Yes!" Everyone in the room yelled at the same time. Katelyn winced and her hands flung to her head. Everyone mumbled quick and quiet apologies.

"Well I haven't been on a proper mission since we got rid of my Kryptonite poisoning, so I'm going," Kara stated, folding her arms.

"If Kara's going then I'm coming too," Barry stated, moving closer to his girlfriend.

"The more the merrier," Clark said.

"I'd like to go as well." Dick said stepping forward, "I'm not as emotionally invested in this as you all are, I could be an asset."

"No Dick. I need you to stay here." Bruce said, forestalling what I thought was a good argument.

"Why?"

"There must always be a Batman in Gotham City. If he disappears, the entire city would fall into chaos. With me gone for however long, that job falls to you." Bruce stated.

Dick looked speechless.

"Sure." Was the only thing the guy could come up with.

"Barbara, mind tagging along? Same reason Dick put forward, unbiased assessment."

"Uh, sure thing. No problem. Sounds fun." Babs stuttered.

"Good. If that's settled, let's all get our gear." Clark announced before flying inside to get changed. The rest of us quickly followed suit.

I was in my room in the tower grabbing my phone so I could take what were definitely going to be some sick photos when Kate drifted in.

"Josh, I don't have to ask you to be careful. I know you will be. But you can get over eager when an adventure comes knocking at your door. Don't take any unnecessary risks, please. I can't do this," she put her hand on her swollen belly, "without you. Cassie couldn't do it either."

I sat down on the bed and gave my wife a soft smile.

"I promise I will be careful Kate. Remember, I don't want to leave any of you any more than you want me to leave. But this is something I have to do, and you have to let me go. I swear I will see our baby born. I will see Cassie grow up. And I will grow old with you. I will not leave you. I told you that three years ago. And I'm telling you now."

Kate placed her head on my leg and sighed.

"I know you will. I just worry."

"I know you do."

I kissed my wife and walked out of the room. I was the last person to arrive at the helipad. Most of the League had dispersed, leaving only those of us who were going on the mission to greet the Angel, who reappeared in a flash of white light.

"Why do I get the feeling you were there the whole time?"

"You'll never know," Anneliese said mischievously.

"That's not creepy at all." I shrugged and rolled my eyes.

"So are you all ready?" The angel asked.

Clark, Bruce, Babs, Kara, Barry and I all nodded our heads.

The Angel smiled.

"Good. Then I suggest you hold your breath." The Angel raised her hands in the air and everything faded to white, before being replaced by a rocky outcrop with a lake in the background.

"Is this Central Park?" I asked.

"Yes, it is."

The women walked up to one of the rocks and began waving her hand about in the air, almost as if she were pressing imaginary buttons.

"What are you doing? Babs asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Asmerian Technology is designed so you can only see it if you know it's there." The Angel explained.

Suddenly a large grey ring and a similar coloured mushroom shimmered into existence.

"That way…"

"Your stuff doesn't get stolen. Smart." Barry finished.

"I take it that's the Stargate?" I asked.

"That's it alright. This one is a seventh generation I think. I'm not the best person to ask about it. I sort of glaze over the physics. I'm a doctor by trade, not a scientist. You'd have to ask Rodney or Sam how it worked, they invented it. Or rather adapted it and made it work in this reality. My brother built the first one, all the way back when there were only 11 elements on the periodic table."

Barry's jaw went slack.

"So what does it do?" I asked, trying to forestall a bunch of questions that Barry wanted to ask.

"Look, like I said, I'm not the best person to ask. All I know is it takes me from where I am to where I need to go." I nodded and decided to give up.

The woman pressed the orange half circle and what looked like water exploded out of the ring, before being sucked back in and forming the blue horizon of the portal.

"Ta-da," The Angel exclaimed.

"Cool," Kara whispered. Bruce, as usual, stood non-pulsed.

The woman pulled a wallet out from beneath her gown. (Seriously where is she keeping that stuff?) and produced six small cards, handing one to each of us.

"In the unlikely event we get separated, use the address printed on that card to gate back here from any Stargate in any universe. The mushroom looking thing is called a DHD or a dial home device. Punch the symbols on that card into the device in the right order and the gate will connect. Basic rules of Gate travel. 1. Don't hold your breath. It's not water. 2. Don't fall out of the rift, or you will be scattered in a random universe or worse thrown out into the space between worlds where you will most likely be stranded for all eternity or you'll be ejected into the Bleed where you will get eaten by one of the extra-dimensional beings that inhabit it. 3. Don't run, walk. Unless there's something chasing you or shooting at you. You maintain the velocity you went in with as you come out. 4. Clear the immediate vicinity of the Gate or people behind you will run into you. Good? Good!"

Anneliese walked through the Stargate, disappearing with an audible squelch.

"Well here goes nothing," Clark said before walking through behind her. Bruce followed behind. Kara and I walked through after him. It was like stepping through a waterfall, only you didn't come out wet on the other side. The opposite side of the gateway was a blue tunnel, which we were immediately pulled down like the current in a whirlpool. We hurtled past trees and buildings, faster than I ever had before. I looked at Kara, who was looking at me with the same wide-eyed expression I wore. We flew out from the planet, my first time in space. The tiny blue marble that was Earth shrinking in the distance. Then it was gone. Almost like we passed through a window. Everything seemed to bend and the surrounds shifted from the dark expansive blackness to a deep red.

We hurtled away from the sphere of blue that replaced the planet behind us. I assumed that must be our universe. We flew past dozens of other blue spheres as we barrelled through the tunnel of light. Then the red was replaced by a dark blue swirling force with orange lightning dancing through it. One bolt even struck the tunnel. Then that was replaced by a dark sky. We flew past a continent floating on a sea, suspended in space, with bright golden towers and waterfalls. We soared over a sea of clouds with silver towers dotting their surface. Then what looked like an ocean of different colours appeared on the horizon. It looked like a ring, orbiting a planet covered entirely in swirling white and grey clouds. There were several mountain peaks sticking out above the cloud layer.

We seemed to zoom in on a section of the ring, where a large structure of varying shades of white, silver, bronze and gold floated on the surface. We flew towards it, the current propelling us, slowing to barely a crawl. Our feet touched the ground, and we stumbled out the other side of the portal.

Clark was standing a few metres in front of them, hands on his knees, heavy breathing. The Angel was talking to Thor at the exit of the massive dome-like room we were in. The roof was decorated with numerous images of different people. Above each image was a symbol. They must represent all the people that are a part of this treaty I reasoned. The mushroom, or the DHD as Anneliese had called it, was in the centre of the room. I looked to Kara, she looked as excited as I felt. She had a smile mirroring mine splitting her face and she was panting as she tried to get her breath back.

"That was the best roller coaster I have ever been on!" I yelled as Barry and Babs walked out of the Stargate behind us. Babs then proceeded to puke all over the floor.

"My friends!" Thor yelled, walking towards us. He wasn't wearing his normal armour. Rather he was wearing something that must have been more ceremonial. The chain mail was gone, leaving his arms bare. He wore a helmet with wings on either side, and his cape was fastened over one shoulder instead of both. His hammer was absent.

"Forgive me for not meeting you myself, I had an urgent matter to attend to. The trial begins soon. Please come."

The Stargate disconnected with a squishing sound, closing the portal, and we followed Thor out of the large room. The Asgardian waved his hand over a panel on the wall and a door set into the structure of the room slid open, revealing the exterior.

"Welcome to the Multiversity."

 

* * *

 

 

We walked out of the Gate Room in awe. The room was like a large observatory, hanging out over the emptiness below. Connecting it to the rest of the city was a floating bridge. The city itself was incredible. The bridge joined the main body of the city next to a large park. Within the park, was a play gym that seemed to jump between dimensions. Climb up a ladder here, and onto a platform somewhere that had red sunlight. Slide down a slide into a winter wonderland. There were silver towers soaring high into the sky. I don't think what they were made of even existed on the periodic table. There was no ground either. The entire city was sitting on large platforms that were floating on some sort of liquid that varied in colour depending on where you were in the city. The west side of the city sat over a yellow colour, the central part over green and the eastern arm over a light blue. It was the most fantastic thing I had ever seen.

"This is incredible. It makes Krypton look like a hovel. Who built this place?" Kara asked in awe.

"The Multiversity was a group effort, as you would say on Midgard. It combines the most advanced technology and magic from across the known Multiverse to create the most advanced city in all the Twelve Realms and beyond." Thor said proudly.

"What's it sitting on. The liquid beneath us, I don't think it's water that's for sure." Barry asked.

"It's the Emotional Reservoir. All the Electromagnetic Emotional Energy generated by every living thing in the Multiverse ends up here." Anneliese explained.

"And that's what powers the ring?" I asked.

"Exactly. That and Omega Radiation, that's the energy force that keeps universes separate from each other and allows us to Breach to different worlds." Anneliese explained.

"So the rings allow you to travel between worlds without using a Stargate?" Babs asked, trying to clarify.

"Basically, but it's not as stable and more likely not to work."

"That's cool. So I can just pop back and forth between alternate universes whenever I want?"

"No. You can't. If you do, my Vorton Team will hunt you down and strip you of that ring my brother has so brazenly given you."

"So that's what the rings are meant for then?" Bruce asked, changing the conversation, "You just use them to open breaches?"

"No. Every Asmerian carries a Dragon Ring on their person at all times. It's an emergency feature if you will. If for some reason an Asmerian gets trapped on some random world in a physical form with no powers, they can use their ring to get home. It also serves as an all-access passport to the different realms and dimensions. The Asmerian Light Guard use them as well, but they don't leave Asmere much." Anneliese said.

We continued walking through the city. All sorts of people were walking through the streets. There was a Tolkien style elven family eating ice-cream, a dwarf arguing with a man who looked like a cat over what type of hot dog was better. There was even a black man wearing a Superman suit, talking to a tall blonde woman also wearing a suit supporting the S.

"That's President Calvin Ellis of Earth 23 and Kara Gordon, the Supergirl of Earth 44. They arrived a few days ago to talk with Katelyn O'Neill about a possible uncontained rift in Yesterday."

"They arrived to talk to who?" I asked, struggling to process what the Angel had just said.

"Katelyn O'Neill. She's the leader of a super team called the Guardians. They're a group of time-travelling protectors who operate mostly in the Realm of Alfhiem." Thor stated offhandedly.

"Alfhiem is what Thor's people call Yesterday," Anneliese said with a wave of her hand.

"It is a more accurate name then Yesterday." Thor snuffed.

"Whatever," Anneliese mumbled.

Thor and Anneliese led us through a tunnel with lots of reflective panelling, highlighting the large number of swords, knives, arrows, handguns, semi-automatics and rocket launchers covering the walls. Bruce walked over to one of the knives and picked it up, examining it. The really interesting part was that all the weapons appeared to be made of a material none of us had seen before, some sort of silver and black material. An alloy of something I guessed.

"It's called Soul Steel," Anneliese said, stopping and watching Bruce with a careful eye. "A Vibranium Terrigen alloy coated in Adamantium and Mithril, forged with dragon fire, tempered by Dwarven smiths in Nidavellir and inscribed with angelic runes in the Temple of the Graces in Heaven. Those weapons are the only things besides dark matter that can permanently destroy the physical form of an ascended being. In other words, preventing them from regenerating. It will also absorb the soul of any mortal being it kills, which can then be used later to revive fallen allies."

"They are the deadliest weapons in all the Twelve Realms. Without them, we would never have been able to repel the invasion from the Dark Multiverse almost 10 of your Earth years ago." Thor stated.

"So, no touching," Bruce said, placing the knife back down on its pedestal.

"No touching." Anneliese confirmed, "Come on, the Courthouse of the Multiversity is just through here."

I caught a quick glance between Bruce and Babs before we all continued walking, soon passing out of the hallway and back into the light.

To say the Courthouse was just a courtroom would be like calling the Arc de Triumph a door. The building was suspended over the dark abyss, with the planet of Asmere hanging above it in the distance. It was the size of a university at least, and the entire thing looked like it had been pulled out of a book. The outer part of the building was decorated with beautiful Ancient Greek marble columns, with green vines with gold leaves spiralling around them. The roof appeared to be made from the gilded gold that I was quickly learning to associate with Asgard, with several interlocking Nordic runes. The inner walls were very geometric, with each segment a large rectangle, alternating black and silver. The interior was like a giant theatre. Tens of thousands of seats lined the three galleries of the house, most of them filled. The various balconies were covered in a strange writing I didn't recognise, that seemed to be a combination of several small boxes and lines. There were also several images depicting the classical elements, like fire, water, earth and air, plus some I didn't recognise.

Floating in the middle of the chamber was a raised platform. There were six judges seated in floating seats, there were seven seats in total, but the last one was empty. They all appeared to be the same design, the only difference between them being the symbol in the back of the headboard. One carried the weird Norse triangle, one with two interlocking trees, one with two zigzagging lines meeting at the bottom but moving away from each other at the top, one with the three armed star motif with a broken fourth arm, one with a shield with wings on either side, one with an anvil and the final empty one with a Greek Omega.

The people seated however were completely different. One was obviously an Asgardian, given his dress. Another was dressed like Anneliese, in flowing white. There was an elf and a dwarf. A woman with very long red hair the pooled over the armrests and a man with short grey hair wearing armour of a metallic blue and white, with a dark cloak fastened around his shoulders.

Anneliese guided us down into a witness box on the lower tier of the room. Thor quickly moved off, presumably to join his Asgardian brethren.

"Ok. Riker is the prosecutor on behalf of the Multiversity in this trial, so just follow his lead. I'll talk to you later. I've got to go." With that, the Angel flared her wings and flew up to the upper level.

"This is going to be fun," Barry said, taking a seat and putting his feet up.

The rest of us followed suit, sitting down on leather seats that seemed to grow out of the ground, conforming to our individual body types. I could use one of these at home!

Clark and Bruce sat on one side of the box, Barry and Kara in the middle and Babs and I on the other side.

"The court will resume in five turns." A voice rang out through the hall.

A breach opened up on the platform and Riker stepped out. He was wearing the same metallic blue armour as one of the judges, but with a red trim instead of white. He was carrying a tablet with several screens floating above it, no doubt reading his notes for the coming trial. This is the third time I've seen the guy, and he still chills me to the core. The uncanny resemblance for example, it just creeps me out.

Riker sat down behind a desk on the platform and started to look around.

"Where's Zeus? Or the defence for that matter?" I whispered to Babs.

"Maybe trials are different here?" she suggested with a shrug.

After about seven minutes, well by my watch at least, the call went out through the courtroom to that the trial would resume and the accused was to be brought in. A breach opened in the middle of the platform and a chair floated out. An empty chair.

Riker stood up from his chair and looked towards a section at the top of the room. They must be the Olympian delegation.

"What are you playing at?! Guards! Find him. Now! Or so help me by all the gods assembled in this room I will feed you to the Daedra myself!" the Asmerian shouted.

The Olympians shrugged their shoulders and fritzed out, disappearing like something derezing in a video game. I suddenly got a very sick feeling in my stomach. Bruce jumped to his feet and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Everybody needs to leave right now!"

The courtroom exploded and Babs and I were all thrown backwards, through a wall and launched out into the abyss.

 

* * *

 

Everything was blurry. Something must have hit me in the head. I could hear the wind rushing past me. I was in free fall, I had to get my senses.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My eyes snapped open and everything came back into focus. Above me, the Courthouse was falling apart, collapsed at the centre, and the entirety of the lower supports had been blown out. There were thousands of people falling around me, but my eyes locked in on the only one I recognised, a figure in a purple outfit with long red hair, falling with her arms and legs out to slow her descent.

I thought about flying towards her but nothing happened, I tried again, but the ring wasn't doing what I was telling it to.

"A.T.M.A! Where's my flight power!"

"I'm sorry boss. Systems need time to recalibrate after the detonation of unknown energies."

I narrowed my eyes and directed myself over to Babs.

"Batgirl!" I yelled as I dived towards her.

"Dragon! A little help!"

I grabbed her hand and she pulled me towards her, wrapping her arms around me and holding on for dear life. I thought about flying again, to no avail. I thought about a very large pillow. Again nothing.

"Josh! Why aren't we flying!" Babs said, her face was only a few centimetres from mine and I could see the fear in her eyes.

"My ring's not working!" I yelled back over the roaring wind.

We had fallen past the Spectrum Reservoir by this point. We looked down and saw a swirling blue cloud far beneath us. Orange lightning crackled across the top.

"Somehow I don't think we want to fall into that," I said.

Babs was watching the other falling individuals. I turned and looked myself, just in time to see one open a breach and jump in.

"Anneliese said the rings primary function was to open breaches. Can it still do that?" Babs asked. The cloud was getting closer, you could hear the electricity crackling now.

"A.T.M.A can you open a breach!" I shouted, my voice cracking with fear.

"Breach power active."

I snapped my eyes closed and put all my concentration into opening a portal back to Earth. I held my hand out beneath us and felt a jolt pass through it, like an electric shot. I opened my eyes just in time to see us fall into a swirling blue vortex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was a big one for me. Asmere is my creation, so finally getting a glimpse of it was a game changer. The heroes have been scattered across the Multiverse in three groups to three different worlds, and their lives will never be the same.


	25. An Apokoliptic Escape

Multiverse Crisis Event tie-in – Detective Comics #49: Scattered!! Part 1

#  An Apocalyptic Escape

* * *

 

**The Multiversity, The Circle of the gods (also known as Asgard Space)**

Clark and Bruce were thrown backwards, through a wall and launched out into the abyss.

Clark’s first thought was ow. For most people that would have been a natural and acceptable reaction. For an invulnerable Kryptonian, it was something to be very worried about. Clark was thrown into freefall, narrowly missing getting struck by a large piece of masonry. The Courthouse above him had been levelled.

He tried to fly, but for some reason, his powers weren’t working. He looked around, searching for Kryptonite, maybe it had been released with the bomb? But he didn’t feel sick, just weak. He looked around for a sun, hoping to draw in its rays to reactivate his powers. And he realised why he didn’t have his powers. There was no sun.

Clark spread himself out, like he had seen people do in movies, and continued to fall. He could see Bruce in his unmistakable cape and cowl below him, and below Bruce was a dark cloud with electricity, not unlike the bolts Barry threw off when he was running, pulsing through it.

The storm cloud grew closer and closer, and Clark had no way to stop himself from falling. Eventually, he caught up with Bruce.

“Bruce! What do we do?” he yelled to his friend.

“All we can do is hope there is solid ground beyond this cloud layer, and try not to get struck by lightning.” Well, that wasn’t very helpful, Clark thought.

The duo fell into the cloud, and they lost all of their senses. They couldn’t see anything, the only sound they could hear was the continuous crack of electricity. The couldn’t feel anything, nor taste or smell.

They fell for what had to be hours. The endless blue fog, accentuated by the constant crack of Lightning. Clark was sure he would go insane, or at the very least deaf.

Then the fog lifted, and his face smashed into a floor.

Clark groaned and took a deep breath. And instantly started coughing. The air was grouse, full of dirt and the stench of sulphur.

“Superman, get up!” Batman hissed, and Clark immediately pulled himself to his feet. They were in a large glowing red room. Lining the walls were pods of some sort.

“Where are we?” Clark whispered.

“I have a really bad feeling about this,” Bruce whispered back.

The duo walked over to one of the pods and Batman whipped the dust off one of them. Staring back at them was a monstrous green face encased in a golden helmet with a corrupted red omega blazed on it.

“It’s a Parademon. This must be Apokolips.” Bruce stated.

“We have to get out of here,” Clark said, moving towards the door at the other end of the room.

“How?”

“We’ll figure it out.”

As the duo were approaching the door, a man that looked like half Parademon half-elf walked in, going wide-eyed at the sight of the two intruders. Clark tried to summon his heat vision but failed. Bruce threw a Batarang, but the intruder ducked and ran back outside.

“Shit!” Bruce cursed, running after the man, with Clark in tow. When they reached the door, Bruce threw another Batarang, hitting the man in the back of the skull, sending him crashing into a panel on the wall. An alarm went up, and Bruce and Clark ran down the corridor, desperate to get out of the area before Parademons arrived. They opened a door and stepped inside, breathing heavy.

Then they heard chirping behind them. They spun around to see a hundred Parademons standing in the room, all staring at them.

“We can’t win this. Not if I don’t have my powers.” Clark whispered.

“I know.” And the Batman did the unthinkable. He raised his hands in surrender. Superman followed suit, swallowing his pride.

The Parademons grabbed the duo, kicking their legs out from under them and beating them repeatedly.

They were brought before Darkseid, but Clark honestly remembered little of it. He felt really unwell, and his head was swimming.

Then they were thrown in a prison cell and Clark laid down on the cold stone ground and drifted to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Clark was woken by a thud coming from the wall next to him. He groaned and sat up, whipping the sleep from his eyes. Batman was standing at the cell door, trying to look out. He was covered in bruises, and his suit was ripped in multiple places. Clark wasn’t much better. He was taking it a lot worse than Bruce as well, as he wasn’t used to not having his powers and pain wasn’t something he usually dealt with either. There was another thud, and the Parademon guarding the door walked towards the entrance to the cell block to see what was going on. As it went to open the door, it exploded inwards, and a sword decapitated the creature. Its head hit the cell door.

A man wearing a dark cloak, with familiar facial features walked in carrying a silver sword, stained with black blood.

“Superman. Batman. It’s an honour to meet you.” Josh O’Neill exclaimed, a massive grin on his face.

“Josh?” Clark said, moving to the cell door himself, incredibly surprised at the turn of events.

“Not exactly. Hi. My name is Josh O’Neill. I’m from an alternate version of Earth in a parallel universe. Riker Celestial sent me and my team to rescue you. He would have come himself, but he’s busy declaring war on the Olympian Gods.” Not Josh just shrugged. This whole alternate universe doppelgänger thing was getting really confusing.

“If you could step back please.”

Clark and Bruce stepped back and the man put his hand over the lock. His hand glowed red, and the bars melted away. He pulled the gate open with a loud creak.

“Not to be rude or anything, but we kind of need to get out of here,” Josh said, before leading the way to the exit. A blonde haired man in similar dress with an axe stood at the door, three Parademons at his feet.

“Jason, let’s get the hell out of here,” Josh said to his comrade. The blonde nodded his head joining them. The group ran down one of the corridors before stopping as a brown-haired woman, with a face identical to Katelyn, materialised in front of them. She was dressed in a dark green tunic, with a quiver of arrows over her back and a bow in her hand.

“Katelyn, what’s the word upstairs?”

“Cam’s ready to cause our distraction.” The women said before joining them in running through the halls. The crossed paths with three more Parademons, but the trio quickly dispatched them, resuming their running, leaving Clark a little in awe of them. They seemed to command some sort of magic, allowing them to do things even he was impressed by.

Eventually, they reached the surface, and Clark and Bruce looked out over the horror that is Apokolips, massive fire pits dotted the surface, belching smoke and fumes into the atmosphere. The only source of light were those fires, hence Clark’s lack of powers. They were on the lower levels of Darkseid’s massive fortress.

“Cam hit it,” Josh said into a com unit in his ear. Suddenly a large explosion went off above them, heaps of Parademons fell past the window, along with a massive piece of rock, that used to be part of the wall.

“One floor up, the ship should be waiting for us there,” Josh whispered. Katelyn moved her hands in a circular motion, and a portal appeared. Clark reasoned it must lead up to their ship.

He and Bruce followed Josh and Jason deeper into the complex.

“What happened? After the Courtroom exploded.” Bruce asked.

“The Olympians claimed it. Said they refused to have their king put on trial for his actions. The big thing is though, a lot of Ascended Beings had to regenerate after that attack, serious burns and lacerations were considered minor injuries. They also accidentally killed half a dozen dwarves and two elves, and now the Elven community in Ljosalfheim is calling for blood and the Dwarves of Nidavellir want vengeance too. The Asmerians weren’t happy either. Then the New Gods used the attack as a distraction to attack Attilan, the Inhuman Capital City. Then throw in the Angels continued neutrality and you’ve got Ascended Civil War.”

“Admittedly I didn’t understand most of that but an Ascended Civil War does not sound good,” Clark said.

“It’s not good. For anyone.” Josh stopped short, holding up his hand, signalling everyone to be quiet. He stayed like that for a few seconds before shrugging and moving on. They finally reached a staircase and climbed it up to the next level.

There were several more Parademons lying dead on the floor, crushed by pieces of the ceiling. In the middle of the room were two women locked in a one on one duel. One had black hair tied beneath a purple cap. She wore a purple uniform with silver accents and wielded two long silver whips. The other women was the splitting image of Anneliese Celestial, with long blonde hair and an identical face. She wore what appeared to be a mixture of form-fitting leather and heavy plate armour. She had more knives on her person than Batman had Batarangs.

“Claire! Play times over. We are outta here!” Josh yelled at the women.

“Took you long enough,” she said. The woman, Claire, grabbed one of the other woman’s whips and swung it like a lasso over her head, slamming her opponent into a stone column, knocking her unconscious.

“You weren’t half bad. But once you’ve punched Morgoth in the face there’s no one you can’t beat.” She said turning around and walking towards the other side of the room where a ship was floating outside a large open window. It was long and rectangular, silver in colour and the cargo bay door was open.

Suddenly Katelyn rematerialized in the middle of the room. Her shoulder was smoking.

“Darkseid.” She whispered before falling to her knees. Josh ran over to her, feeling her pulse. Clark saw him breathe a sigh of relief before picking her up bridal style. He ran to the ship, the rest of the group following. He jumped on board, ducking inside quickly, Claire following him. Jason and Clark were next. Clark turned and offered his hand to Bruce, the last person still on the ground. The doors on the far side of the room exploded, revealing the massive armoured figure of the Lord of Apokolips, eyes smoking.

“You dare!” He yelled before advancing across the room at a speed that belayed his size.

“Go.” Bruce hissed at Clark. “GO NOW!!!” Batman pulled a cylinder from his belt, pressing a button and turning it into a sword. He didn’t think about it at the time, but later he would realise that it was one of the Soul Steel weapons they had seen at the Multiversity. He charged towards Darkseid, and Clark made to jump after him. But Jason grabbed him and pulled him back inside.

The door slid closed, and two screams echoed outside. Followed by two thuds against the cargo bay door.

“GO!!!” Jason yelled, and Clark felt the ship jolt out of the path of the beams.

“Noooo!!!” Clark screamed in horror. “We have to go back!”

“No one’s getting out of there alive. Darkseid’s Omega Beams reduce Asmerians to ashes, what chance to you think you have against them? Snap out of it Superman! You don’t have your powers!” Jason yelled, slapping Clark across the face. He then ran up a ramp and into the ship.

Clark, almost like a Zombie, followed. He walked past half a dozen rooms with strange decorations, but he wasn’t paying much attention. His brain was playing what he had just seen over and over and over. On a permanent repeat.

He walked onto what had to be the Bridge as the ship shook violently.

“How’s FTL looking!!” Claire yelled.

“Give me five seconds!” Josh replied. He was sitting behind a console in the middle of the room, typing madly, Clark couldn’t even understand what they were saying.

Another shot hit the ship.

“Shields down 40%.” Jason said.

“Come on… come on… Got it! Course plotted for Earth 25.”

“Everybody hold on!!!!” Claire yelled. She pushed a lever forward and Clark watched as everything became distorted, as if light, couldn’t quite catch up to them. The sudden acceleration threw him across the room, and he hit a wall. Everything shifted back to normal. Shaking his head, he looked out the main view screen and saw a collection of purples, pinks and blues, rushing past the window, as if they were flying through an ocean.

 


	26. An Unstoppable Force

Event – Multiverse Crisis (#3)

#  An Unstoppable Force

* * *

 

**Watchtower, Earth 25**

**July 1 st, 2027 – Josh O’Neill’s Birthday**

**4 months after Superman, Supergirl, Batman, The Dragon, the Flash and Batgirl departed for the Multiversity**

Katelyn sat on the couch in her room in the Watchtower, Cassie’s head resting on her leg, hand on her very inflated stomach. The baby was ready to pop, she could feel it. But Katelyn was using all her willpower to keep it inside. She wanted Josh to be there when she went into labour. Stark and the others had started to lose hope that the rest of the League would ever come back. The world was starting to notice too. Thousands of journalists were speculating on where they were. The general consensus was that they were on some sort of undercover mission. Others thought the heroes had hung up their suits and settled down to live a quiet life after the whole S.H.I.E.L.D fiasco.

Some criminals presumed they were dead and thought they could get away with pulling off crimes in the heroes’ absence. They quickly learned that Metropolis, New York and Central City were not easy pickings. Wally West, Barry’s apprentice, had taken over as the primary superhero in Central City, assisted by the Atom and Firestorm. Stark had stepped up as Iron Man and had taken Spider-Man under his wing (or more accurately, under his armour) to help protect New York with the absence of the Dragon. It had taken Dick a month or so to get his bearings in Gotham, taking on the mantle of the world’s most famous vigilante wasn’t something to laugh about. But he was doing much better now. Tim Drake, aka Red Robin, was helping him, as was Bruce’s illegitimate son Damien, who had taken on the role of Robin at the age of eleven. But there was trouble brewing with Jason Todd, the Red Hood.

Metropolis was a whole other story. With Superman and Supergirl gone, Lex Luthor had stepped up his campaign of scrutinising all heroes. Green Lantern was doing a good job protecting the City of Tomorrow, but Hal was no Superman. To help him, he had assembled a team of his own. Carol Ferris: The Star Sapphire – wielder of the Violet Ring, Guy Gardener: The Red Lantern, and Carol Danvers aka Ms Marvel AKA the Indigo Lantern. The Orange Ring had been hidden by Josh 10km beneath the ice of Antarctica, the only people who knew where were Josh and herself. The Yellow Ring was still missing, presumably with Cyborg Fury, wherever he was. The Blue Ring of Hope was still to make an appearance.

As her pregnancy developed and her powers only got stronger, Katelyn had spent more and more time on the Watchtower, where there weren’t as many minds to worry about. She could feel every mind on the eastern seaboard when she reached eight months. Even Stark’s neural inhibitor did nothing to lessen the splitting headache that seemed to be a permanent feature of her life now. Except here. On the Watchtower.

“Katelyn!” Annabeth said, running into the room. “You need to see this!” She ran off and Katelyn woke up her daughter.

“Mum?”

“Somethings going on. Come on.” Cassie activated her bracelets, the golden armour forming around her body and jumped of the chair. She used her strength to lift her adopted mum into the hover chair, and flew alongside as they made their way to the control room. Lois and Clark’s eight-year-old son Jon were already there. Lois had already handled a super-powered pregnancy and had volunteered to help Kate in any way she could. It didn’t hurt that Jon and Cassie were good friends either.

“What’s going on?”

“The sky just ripped open over New York,” Lois said.

“What?”

“You heard me,” Lois said, pointing at the screen. A security camera above Stark Tower was pointed up towards the sky, where what could only be described as a giant open wound was floating, right above the Empire State Building.

“Holy shit!” Cassie exclaimed, staring at the screen. The group watched as the clear blue sky around the tear turned blood red. Beyond the tear a fiery object could be seen, hovering in the distance.

 

* * *

Iron Man launched from the Helipad of the tower, heading towards the giant ass crack hovering in the sky, turning the sky red. The tear was several hundred meters above the city itself and he stopped a few meters below it.

“Jarvis? You getting anything?”

_“Negative sir. At least nothing I can understand.”_

Stark reached his hand out towards the glassy surface. It looked like it was rippling.

_“Sir, do you really think that’s a good idea?”_

“Do you have any better suggestions?”

He tapped the surface and was instantly repulsed backwards. He managed to stabilise himself after only falling a few metres thankfully.

“What the hell was that?”

A large black object fell out of the tear. It was long and thin, with a point like a barb and lots of external pieces hanging off, like spines, or talons. The object smashed into the top of the Chrysler Building, tearing a massive hole through the upper floors.

“Shit!” Stark flew towards the building at top speed.

“Jarvis! What’s the casualty count of people in that building right now?!”  
_“Unknown.”_

Tony hit another energy shield, shooting backwards once again.

“What the hell is that thing.”

He got his answer when the spines opened up, and thousands of Parademons swarmed from the openings.

Darkseid!

“Jarvis! Activate the Network! Call everyone in!!!!” Iron Man yelled, before unloading his shoulder missiles into the first wave of alien monsters.

 

* * *

 

_"Alert! Alert! Emergency! Priority Alpha Red. Whatever you’re doing, drop it. The world is about to end!!!!”_

 

* * *

 

In Gotham City, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake and Damien Wayne ran into the Batcave and jumped into the Batjet, instantly dropping the case they were looking over.

In Central City Wally West was sitting inside his Aunt Iris’s apartment, half listening to his aunt fume over the revelation that he was Kid Flash, or lately, the Flash. He heard the message, and disappeared in a flash, leaving Iris even angrier than she already was.

In Star City Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance were standing at the top of Queen Industries. It had taken a long time and a long road, but they had finally managed to reclaim Oliver’s company. They were getting ready to finally lay down and relax when the alert came in.

 

* * *

 

Stark fired his unibeam, incinerating half a dozen monsters before turning and punching one that tried to come up behind him. He looked up just in time to see a rouge blast get deflected off a wall of green energy as Green Lantern and his entourage flew in.

“About time Glow Sticks.”

“ROARRRR!!!!!!” Hulk jumped up in the air, grabbed a Parademon and threw it at another before landing back on the ground with a crunch.

A large chunk broke off the tower, falling to the earth.

“I’ve got it!” Sapphire exclaimed diving down, but before she even got close, the piece righted itself on its own and spun around. Two very large guns were now visible on the undercarriage. It was a gunship.

“Scatter!!!!” Hal yelled, diving out of the way of the incoming energy blasts. He threw up a shield construct to protect a group of people on the ground, then summoned a squadron of construct aircraft fighters to bombard the gunship. The enemy ship fell from the sky, crashing into the road.

Five more ships broke off the tower, all flying in different directions. Wally appeared next to Hal.

“What the hell is going on!” the Speedster asked.

“One word: Darkseid.”

“Oh shit!!”

“Carol!” Hal called out to Ms Marvel.

“Wally. Get the civilians out of here.” The speedster nodded his head, disappearing in a burst of lightning.

Hal launched himself back into the air, meeting up with Carol, who was waiting for him.

“Yeah, boss?”

“I need you to use your teleport ability to go on a recruiting run. Get Green Arrow, Black Canary, anyone who’s connected to the network and can’t get here fast.”

“What about the Bats?”

A giant black jet flew overhead, taking on two of the Parademon gunships in a dogfight.

“I should have expected that, shouldn’t I?”

“Yep.”

 

* * *

 

In Stark Tower, the S.H.I.E.L.D Agents sat in the common room of their floor watching the footage from outside the tower. Since the Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D, they had been living on two floors of Stark Tower, with quite explicit instructions not to leave the premises. Natasha and Clint had done so numerous times, but the others didn’t see much of a point. Coulson was spearheading the Hydra Takedown, helping the Justice League attack high profile targets and cripple the organisation that had destroyed the institution he had put so much faith in. He was channelling all his anger into it. Skye, his protégé, had been training with Natasha to better her skills. Every Friday Night there was a competition in the Gym between Natasha, Clint and May. The person who won got to choose which movie they watched.

Bobbi and Hunter, however, were not so happy with the current arrangement, both of whom wanted to leave. He had told them that they were free to go, he wouldn’t stop them. But he would tell the League everything they wanted to know about them if they did, as he would not jeopardise his agreement with the League. It was too important.

Coulson and Trip had also taken a particular interest in Captain America. Trip was the great-grandson of one of the Howling Commandos – the Captain’s original team from WW2. Coulson was still shocked that the guy was alive, not to mention S.H.I.E.L.D had recovered him without him even knowing. He had researched everything he could but had no idea how to melt him that would keep him alive. Banner believed that any sudden changes in his body temperature would undoubtedly lead to, at least, high levels of brain damage, at most, rapid onset organ failure.

 

But when there was an alien invasion happening on their doorstep, he couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

“We aren’t just going to sit here while evil alien god man attacks the city, are we?” Hunter asked.

“No.”

“Then what should we do,” Clint asked, fiddling with an arrowhead.

“Jarvis? How many people in New York City are in the line of fire right now?”

_“Approximately 10 million.”_

“How many people can this building house?”

_“Including the 5-kilometre squared underground bunker that sir had built several feet below the tower in the event of another alien invasion? Several million, tightly packed. Kid Flash is currently helping move civilians across the river to New Jersey.”_

Coulson pondered that for a few minutes.

“Jarvis, will the League mind if we break our restriction on leaving the Tower to help civilians evacuate back to it?”

_“I do not think so.”_

“Good. Okay team, here’s the plan. All civilians in the vicinity of the tower, we are going to shepherd them inside. Jarvis, I assume the tower has automated defences?”

_“They have already been activated.”_

“Let’s go save the world.”

 

* * *

 

 

The Demigod Army was preparing to march. They were marshalling at the foot of Camp Half-Blood, preparing to get in their fleet of Black Jeeps and SUV’s to head for New York.

Leo Valdez, Supreme Commander of the Argo 4, stood at the helm holding his Wii controllers. Piper Mclean was standing next to him.

“You ready for another war?” Leo asked her.

“Are you?” Was all Piper could think to say.

Percy was standing on the deck of Annabeth’s ship, the Night Owl. Annabeth was on the Watchtower with Katelyn and Lois, and Percy was more than fine with that. He didn’t want his wife anywhere near this fight. Fortunately, he had a Hephaestus kid on the ship, because he had no idea how to steer the massive floating trireme.

“All Demigods. This is Supreme Commander Leo Bad Boy Valdez. The fleet is ready, I repeat the fleet is ready. Let’s go kick some Parademon ass!!!”

 


	27. A Fellowship of Legends

Multiverse Crisis Event tie-in – Justice League (#50): Scattered!! Part 2

#  A Fellowship of Legends

 

**The Multiversity, The Circle of the Gods**

Barry and Kara were thrown backwards, through a wall and launched out into the abyss. All Barry could think to do was grab Kara, hugging her tight. She returned the hug. He noticed how close the ground was getting, and wracked his brain for any ideas on how not to get flattened on impact.

"Kara! You have to fly, or we'll end up as pancakes!" Barry shouted, jolting her into action.

"I can't! There's not enough sunlight; I don't have my powers!" Kara exclaimed, trying in vain to fly and access the reserves of sunlight in her cells.

Barry looked around in vain, trying to find something to slow their fall. He saw the ground approaching, faster and faster. He'd have to break the fall doing what he did best. Running. He brought Kara and himself upright. When they hit the ground, he was running as fast as he could, harnessing every bit of speed force he could muster.

He was slower than usual. But still fast enough to break their fall. He ran straight down the side of a building, the only one that didn't seem to be on fire. But he slipped on the ash, and they smashed through a window, landing in a room with about 50 large mirror like objects. Barry thought he heard a crunch but didn't have the time to worry about it, as the building lurched forward. The duo were flung forwards, straight into one of the mirrors. Barry was expecting to impact and destroy the mirror, but instead, he and Kara fell straight through it, tumbling out onto a rocky surface.

**Earth 13**

All the light and noise from the explosion disappeared. Everything was pitch black, and he could feel a sharp rock digging into his side. With a groan, he stood up and tried to observe his surroundings. He was underground, that was certain, as he couldn't see the sky above him, just blackness. Kara groaned, and Barry bent down to make sure she was okay. She had a large piece of glass sticking out of her leg, but her powers would heal that. He just had to get them outside, into the sunlight. He looked around for some sign of light and realised he could see a tiny pinprick of yellow on the horizon.

"Kara, can you stand?" He asked.

"With help." He helped her to her feet, letting her rest her weight on his shoulders. Slowly, but surely, they made their way towards the light.

 

It took a lot longer than Barry would have liked, but eventually, they reached the light, which was revealed to be a flaming torch marking a path.

"Which way do you think?" Barry asked his limping girlfriend.

"Well up leads to the surface, but we have no idea how high we could be. We could be underground or inside a mountain."

"I think up," Barry said confidently.

"Why?" Kara asked.

"Because in every video game I've ever played, the boss chamber is at the bottom of the scary cave. So, going away from the boss chamber is a good idea in my opinion."

"You're such a nerd," Kara replied with a laugh.

Taking the torch, the duo headed up, but after what had to be at least an hour of walking, they were no closer to an exit. What was worse, is that they were sure they could hear something screeching in the distance and it filled their hearts with dread.

 

Eventually, they reached another crossroads, this time with three options, and they had no idea which to choose.

 

"Barry. We'll figure it out later, right now I need to sleep." Kara said. She slumped down against the wall and closed her eyes. Barry stood watch over her, listening to her soft snoring. He thought about scouting the three passages with his speed, but he didn't like the idea of leaving Kara on her own for any length of time. So, he stayed put and soon fell asleep himself.

Barry and Kara snapped awake to a scream. It was gurgled and disgusting. Kara didn't think a human could make that sound. Then she saw it. Standing at one of the passages was a humanoid creature with massive eyes that took up most of its face, it wore crude metal armour over parts of its body, had large claw-like fingernails and held a sharp jagged sword in its hand. And it looked petrified.

The 'thing' spun on its heal and raced back the way it came.

"We have to get out of here," Barry whispered.

"Duh." Kara pushed herself to her feet, immediately regretting it, as her leg stung with pain. She hated not having her powers. She really did.

Barry helped her hobble down one of the corridors, but they stopped short when they heard more gurgling screeches. Barry picked her up and sped her back to the crossroads. He put her down and sped up the final path. He was back again within five seconds.

 

"That one's a no go too. There are hundreds of them." He said, and Kara suddenly became very scared.

The screeches were getting closer and closer. Louder and louder. The gurgling set her teeth on edge, and the clink of iron made her stomach turn. This was like something that happened in a James Bond movie. But Bond always got out in the end, and Kara was worried this would be more like Game of Thrones.

Suddenly the whole corridor began to shake, and a deep burly voice echoed through the halls.

"Baruk Khazad!" followed by an ear-shattering roar that Barry and Kara recognised.

"Hulk?" they whispered to each other.

One of the arches exploded, and their hopes were confirmed. The giant green monster stood triumphantly, two of the things trampled beneath his feet. Hulk looked at them and frowned. Something wasn't right.

A section of the roof caved in, and a figure in red and gold armour landed on the floor. Iron Man. Except, he looked much shorter than before. Like, he barely passed 4ft.

"Zor'El? Allen? What in Smaug's name are you doing down here?" The deep voice asked. The short figure pushed his mask up, and Kara couldn't help but gasp. It looked like Tony's features, by they seemed squashed, more hardened, and his hair was brown instead of black, the goatee remained, though it was thicker than usual.

"Tony?" Barry asked carefully.

"Who's Tony? Did you hit your head on something speedy? Names Gimli, always has been, always will be. Durin's beard! Kara, you're injured, I didn't think that was possible." The short man walked over to them, sliding his mask back down. He took her hand and activated his repulsors, launching back up through the hole he made in the roof.

Kara gasped at the size of the underground structure. She would have called it a city, but it was too grand for that. She could see mines in the distance, spiralling deep down into the abyss. There several massive halls carved out of the stone, supported with columns rising from the floor. It was beautiful.

Iron Man flew her in a direction; Kara had no idea which way it was. They passed under several arches and through more tunnels than she could count, but eventually, they flew into a large chamber and landed on the ground. Several more short people came running up to them.

"I need to use the Portal Stone," Gimli told them.

"Yes, Lord Gimli, right away. Several of them ran off ahead while three more of the little folk ran in with a canvas stretcher which she gratefully laid down on.

"Don't worry Kara. We'll get you to Rivendell as soon as possible."

"What about Barry?" Kara asked, concerned for her boyfriend.

"Don't worry I'm sure he'll be fine. If anything, he'll run to headquarters himself."

Kara laid down on the stretcher and closed her eyes, drifting off to a peaceful sleep.

 

* * *

 

When she woke up, she felt the sunshine on her face. Kara breathed in the fresh air, rejoicing in the beautiful aroma it carried compared to the dankness of the air in the underground structure. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair. She looked down to her leg and saw that it was completely healed. She powered up her heat vision and smiled when she felt the heat build-up in her eyes. She had her powers back.

Then she noticed she wasn't alone.

Sitting in a comfortable armchair was a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a dark blue suit that appeared to be made mostly from dyed leather. She wore no skirt; instead, she had pants of the same material with a red belt. The boots, however, were red like hers. On her chest, displayed proudly, was the S, the crest of the House of El, set in front of a silver tree

"Hi. My name is Kara Zor'El of the lost Kingdom of Krypton. Also known as Supergirl. Care to tell me who you are?" her counterpart asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well Kara," Kara said, making herself comfortable in the bed. She wasn't wearing her suit; rather she was dressed in a form-fitting tunic with leaf patterns over it.

"My Name is Kara Zor'El of the planet Krypton. Also known as Supergirl. I'm you from a parallel universe."

"A what?" Kara 2.0 said, completely confused.

"It's like a duplicate world, another version of Earth, where everyone's histories are similar but a little bit different. Wait this is Earth isn't it? Please tell me it's an Earth."

"You're in Middle Earth if that counts." Kara 2.0 said.

"Umm…. Ok. Let's see… your mum's name is Alura, your father's name was Zor. You belong to the House of El, whose words are El Mayara. In English, Stronger Together. The symbol of the house of El means hope. I assume you don't have a Phantom Zone? Do I need to continue?"

The other Kara sat in silence for a few minutes. Kara felt sorry for her counterpart; it was certainly a lot to process.

"Your Barry said something similar. His story only vaguely matched my Barry's, but our stories are practically identical. Except the Phantom Zone bit. I have no idea what that is."

"I hope you never have to find out."

Kara 2.0 sighed and stood up, dusting off her cape behind her.

"Your skimpy outfit is in the chest there, you're welcome to put it back on, but it will turn a few heads I imagine. We'll wait for you in the Council Chamber down the hall." Her doppelgänger walked out of the room, leaving Kara alone to process that comment.

 

* * *

 

 

Eventually (she got lost twice admiring the view) she found the Chamber Kara 2.0 had talked about. It was literally down the hallway from her room.

She walked in and was immediately surprised by the make-up of the room.

She recognised Barry instantly as he was talking to himself, naturally. This worlds Barry appeared to have blonde hair, which was incredibly weird. Clark looked the same as he did on her Earth. There were three short people seated, two with curly hair, one blonde and one black and the Iron Man who rescued her, holding a tankard of what she assumed was beer. Well, somethings never change. There was a man with shoulder length blonde hair wearing a black and silver leather suit emblazoned with a white tree. Sitting on the ground next to him was a shield with a similar symbol. Next to him was a man with very long blonde hair, wearing a green outfit similar to the one she had woken up in. He had a bow and quiver slung over the back of his chair. Next to him was a woman with similar long hair, but she wore a full black outfit, like a medieval biker. Both had pointed ears. Her doppelganger was also present.

Finally, there were two people dressed in green wearing green rings on their fingers; a man and a woman. She recognised Hal, but the woman she didn't know.

 

"I assume you call yourselves the Justice League?" Kara said as she sat down between her Barry and their Kara.

"They call themselves the Fellowship actually," Barry told her.

"Oh. My bad."

"So, Kara. My Kara. You believe their stories?" Clark asked.

"I do. What other explanation could there be really?"

"Beats me. I'm not the smart one."

The council was very silent.

"So what do we do?" the guy who looked like the Green Arrow asked.

"I'm up for suggestions Legolas," Clark said, shrugging his shoulders.

"They could come in handy if we come against another Sauron level threat." Hal pointed out.

"It would be nice to have someone around who could keep up with me," their Barry said with a smirk.

"Of course, there is the whole problem of how we explain it." The female ring wielder said with a shrug.

"Good point Jess." Their Barry said, and Jess blushed. Kara took note of that, and how her counterpart looked at the duo.

"Would anyone like to hear what we think?" Her Barry said.

No one answered.

"Well. If I'm right, this world is a warped analogue of Tolkien's world on our earth."

"Tolkien? As in the Lord of the Rings Tolkien?" Kara asked.

"Positive. Look. That's Legolas Greenleaf. You're Samwise Gamgee. And you Superman, I'd be willing to wager my speed you're the King of the Reunited Kingdom aren't you?"

"Your point is?" the blonde haired small person asked.

 

"Oh, Rao! You are Sam Gamgee! It's an honour to meet you." Kara exclaimed, geeking out.

* * *

* * *

"Thanks?"

"As I was saying. Anneliese Celestial said there are Stargates on most worlds. If we want to get home, all we have to do is find this one."

"What's a Stargate?" Clark asked.

"It's a portal to other worlds. Kind of like a big circular doorway that can take you to other places." Barry explained.

"This 'Stargate' is a doorway to other places?" the Black Canary double said slowly.

"That's right," Kara confirmed.

"Is it a large ring with symbols on it?"

"You know where it is don't you?" Barry asked, a smile blooming on his face.

"Every Elf knows where it is. We call it the Straight Road. It's our doorway to Valinor."

 

* * *

 

Kara could honestly say she had never seen anywhere as peaceful as the Shire. It was the quietest place she had ever been. It was beautiful.

"Admiring the Shire, are we?" her double asked as they flew over the green fields and pastures of the Hobbit homeland.

"It sure is something." She whispered. A young Hobbit girl waved up at them as they passed. Two bolts of gold lightning raced past the girl, disappearing into the distance.

"Should we be surprised those two wanted to race before you go back to your world?"

"We wouldn't love them if they didn't. It's who they are." Kara said before she thought about it. She glanced over to see her counterpart look upset.

"You're not with him here are you?" she asked.

"We were supposed to be. He was the heir to Rohan; I was promised to him you see. I was head over heels for the guy as soon as I saw him. But then came the storm and he became the Flash. Then he joined Clark's fellowship to destroy the one ring. I wasn't there when they set out; I only joined later. I'm still pissed I wasn't told earlier. He fell in love with the Green Lantern girl, Jessica Cruz, on the road to Mordor. She saved him from Saruman's experiments, at a time when I couldn't be there for him, it's a long story. In the end, he turned the kingship down, handing it off to his cousin Eomer. He said it didn't fit with his mission to protect the world, but really, he did it for her. It was always for her." her counterpart drooped her head, she looked like she was crying. Kara mentally punched herself for bringing up the subject.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"Don't be. I'm happy for you though. You caught your Fastest Man Alive, and that's no easy feat."

 

They landed in the Elven sanctuary of Mithlond, also known as the Grey Havens.

"You're faster than me? How?" Barry 2.0 was saying.

"I had to learn to run faster. To avenge my parents and protect my friends from our counterpart, the Reverse Flash."

"I had him too. He killed my mum."

"Same here, but I wasn't fast enough to stop him, and in the end, one of my friends died. I swore to truly be the fastest man alive after that. Speaking of which, do you know what Flashpoint is?"

"No."

"Then Barry, I'm going to give you some important advice. In the future, you're going to have a choice to make. To save your mum and lose everything you know, everyone you love." Barry glanced at Kara as he said that and she couldn't help but blush, "or live with not saving her, and go home to protect the ones you care about most. I made the wrong choice, don't make my mistake."

 

Flashpoint was still a sore point between them. Cisco, Caitlin, Batman and herself were the only people he told about what happened on the other side. The apocalypse he encountered... and the people he met. And they still didn't know the extent of the damage resetting it had caused.

"I'll remember that. That's a Flash Fact."

Both Kara's burst out laughing at that.

"That's good. I have to use that." Her Barry said.

"Come on Flash," Kara said, rolling her eyes and walking over to the DHD. She punched the symbols on her card into the device, and the gate lit up as expected.

"This next part is very fun," Barry said. You guys should try it some time." Barry and Kara walked through the breach, leaving Earth 13 behind.

 

They stepped out of the Stargate and looked out in horror as they realised their world had gone to hell in their absence. No. Hell had come to them.


	28. An eXtraordinary Adventure

Multiverse Crisis Event tie-in – Legend Comics (#50): Scattered!! Part 3

#  An eXtraordinary Adventure

 

* * *

**Times Square, New York City, Earth 61**

Katherine Pryde, better known as Kitty to her friends or as the X-Man Shadowcat to the public, phased through the foot of a large purple Sentinel as it slammed its boot down on top of her in an attempt to squash her. She jumped up inside the foot, grabbing hold of a piece of technology that looked important, and pulled it out. She dropped to the ground and ran back outside, before glancing back up to see what damage she had done.

"ERROR. MOTOR RESPONSES IN RIGHT FOOT UNRESPONSIVE. ERROR." The giant robot announced, before unceremoniously falling flat on its face. Bobby Drake – aka Iceman – glided overhead on a ribbon of ice and froze the giant Mutant killing machine before it could open up and release the smaller black skinned sentinels within its chest.

"Kitty! Duck!" Kitty dropped to the floor as she heard Storm's warning in her ear communicator. And good timing too, as Logan – aka the Wolverine – flew straight over her head, launched by Storm using her weather powers. He popped his claws with an audible sinkt and stabbed a black sentinel in the stomach, disabling its power source and sending it tumbling to the ground. She ran over to Logan and helped him to his feet as Storm landed next to her.

"Just the big one and three more small ones to go." Logan snarled, looking towards the approaching robots. They had arrived to rescue a young boy from slaughter at the hands of the mutant killers. Rogue and Nightcrawler had already evacuated him to a safe location, leaving Logan, Bobby, Storm and herself to clean up the mess. The Sentinel Program may have been 'formally' shut down after the new President was elected, but not all the robots had gone down with the ship, and others were hacked and set loose by supremacists and other Mutant hate groups. Whenever she thought about those people though she just rolled her eyes. They weren't worth wasting thoughts on.

They were about to charge when the sky opened up. Both robot and mutant alike stopped and stared at the swirling blue vortex hovering above the city. Then two bodies fell out, and the portal snapped shut.

The Sentinels recovered from their shock first. One of the small ones launched its face beam at the trio. Logan grabbed both girls and brought them to the ground behind an overturned car, the red beam of energy flying clean over their heads.

Kitty glanced upwards to where the two bodies were falling.

"Storm! You have to rescue them!" Kitty yelled.

Storm was about to reply when the car was thrown aside. She directed a lightning bolt into the offending robot's face, blinding it to Logan's attack. Kitty pulled her sword from her back and stabbed the machine in the face, before phasing her hand inside it and ripping its 'heart' out of its chest.

Suddenly a voice echoed above them.

"Shit!" and a giant white pillow materialised over Times Square. The two figures hit the pillow with audible thuds. Logan removed his claws as Nightcrawler appeared next to them in a puff of blue smoke.

"What is that?" the blue-skinned mutant asked in his unmistakable German accent.

"Good question. Take Kitty and get an answer." Logan said before turning his attention back to the final two Sentinels.

Nightcrawler grabbed her shoulder and teleported her up on top of the pillow. The two figures were lying in on top of it. They were wearing costumes, so Kitty assumed they must be superheroes or very good cosplayers, but she didn't recognise them.

She and Kurt moved over to the first figure, wearing black with white highlights.

"Please don't be dead." She whispered as she touched the man's shoulder.

"Please…" the man moaned, "five more minutes."

" _System reboot successful. Warning. 2% energy remaining."_  A female voice rang out from a location Kitty couldn't pinpoint. She didn't think it came from the woman lying next to the man.

"I literally hate my life right now." The man groaned. The pillow beneath her shook, sending Kurt and herself falling over. Then the entire pillow dematerialised and all four of them fell into free fall.

"Nightcrawler!" Kitty screamed as the ground zoomed towards her.

Kurt grabbed hold of Kitty and the man with his hands while latching onto the other woman with his tail, and teleported them away only one meter above the ground. They all dropped onto a couch. She immediately recognised it as the one in the rec room of the X-Mansion. And they were surrounded by students.

"Instead of standing there gawking, anyone like to help?" Kitty suggested. The kids all mumbled apologies to her and Kurt before helping to lift the man and woman off her. Kurt disappeared once more, probably back to the battle to help Wolverine and Storm.

"Okay, kids we are going to carry these guys to the medical bay downstairs."

 

 

* * *

 

I woke up with a splitting headache. I opened my eyes and raised my hand to my head. So this is what a hangover feels like? I sat up and opened my eyes, rubbing my hands through my hair. The room was a glaring white and silver, with several tables and beds scattered around the room. There were a number of screens and machines lining the walls. A hospital I realised. I pulled a wire off my arm and jumped off the bed. And I realised I was in nothing but underwear, and it wasn't even the underwear I was wearing earlier. Great. I don't even want to think about what that means. I looked to the bed next to me and instantly regretted it. Babs was lying in a similar position to what I was, wearing the same amount of clothes as I was. I started going through draws, looking for anything we could use as clothes. I pulled out two sets of tracksuit pants and two shirts. Thank gods. I tossed them to Babs, jolting her awake.

"Get dressed. We need to get out of here." I said as I pulled up my own set of pants.

"We never speak of this again," Babs said as she pulled the shirt down.

"We won't have to," I said as we made our way towards the door.

"Oracle." She whispered, suddenly horrified.

"You get used to it."

I was looking for a control switch when the door opened to reveal a woman with long brown hair wearing denim short shorts and a loose fitting white shirt hanging down below her shoulder.

"Ah, you're awake! Awesome. The Professor will be pleased." She said.

"Yeah no thanks, we just want to get our gear and go," Babs said suspiciousness.

"Sorry, but I can't let you do that. See we've taken a pretty big risk bringing you to our base to patch you up and we can't just let you walk out. So if you'll just come with me to see the Professor I'm sure we can sort everything out." To her credit, she was trying to diffuse the situation. It wasn't working.

"Look if you can just give me a phone I can call Tony Stark..." But the woman was already looking confused. She had no idea who I was talking about. I flexed my fingers behind my back, summoning The Ring. It flew onto my finger quickly and quietly; the woman didn't notice.

"Sorry about this," I said, as I hit her with an uppercut straight to the jaw with a construct fist. She smashed her head into the roof and fell to the ground unconscious.

Babs and I bolted out of the room, and into another white hallway.

"Which way do you think?" I asked her.

"Right," Babs said and we ran down the right passageway. We rounded a corner and found an elevator. We stepped inside and pressed the only button there. An up button.

The doors opened and we ran out into a hallway in a house. A window was wide open at the end of the hall, letting the first rays of sunshine in. It was early morning. Steps echoed from across from us and we turned to see a burly man with a weird hairstyle wearing a white singlet and jeans.

"Hey!" he yelled before walking towards us.

"I've got this. Find a way out." I told Babs. She nodded and ran off.

"I don't want to hurt you, sir. But I will if I have to." I said, walking up to the man.

"Trust me bub, you won't." He threw a right hook straight at my face, at a speed much faster than I thought he would be. I deflected it with a small shield, punched him in the gut and pulled his legs out from under him with a whip. He hit the floor with a thud and I pinned him down with constructs over his hands and feet.

"So that's how it is huh." The man snarled before three large metal claws popped out from the knuckles of each of his hands, shattering my construct.

"Well, that's new," I said as the man jumped to his feet and started swiping at me. I threw up shields to deflect the claws, but they shattered all my constructs and forced me backwards. I summoned a replica of Thor's hammer and smashed him into the wall with it. He was back up instantly, and I watched in awe as the cut I had opened on the side of his head, healed instantly. A door a few meters behind me opened, revealing a teenage girl with brown hair and a white fringe.

"What the…" She started in the weirdest accent I had ever heard. It was as far as he got before I jumped in the air, forming construct armour around my body and kicking her in the face before dropping claw guy to the ground with a trick I learned from Spiderman.

"Rogue! Shut him down." The man yelled. The girl jumped to her feet and tried to grab my wrist.

"Don't think so!" I yelled before summoning a giant blast of white energy to knock both of them backwards. When the light cleared both my assailants were unconscious. I bolted in the direction Babs had gone. I ran down a set of stairs, jumping over the body of a man with shades I was instantly jealous of and out into what looked like a lobby of some kind.

"This is the biggest house I have ever seen," I said as I stopped next to Babs. She was standing square with a woman with a white Mohawk and a man covered in blue hair. I summoned two construct ropes, hoisted them upside down and hung them from the roof. Babs and I took off towards the large front door. We were about to leave when I felt it, a force pushing against my mind.

"Telepathy!" I shouted, pulling up my mental shields just like Katelyn had taught me. Babs grimaced and raised her hands to her head. I raised a construct shield around Babs and I, designed to block out external interference. Babs dropped to her knees and let out a sigh of relief, but I could still feel that force, prodding at the outside of my shield. The blue ape guy, Mohawk woman, claw man and the teen, as well as a bunch of other teens, ran up and surrounded us.

"I can fly us out," I whispered to Babs as she stood up. She grabbed my hand and nodded slowly, ready for me to jump into the air.

"There is no need for this." A man said as he wheeled into the room in a wheelchair and sat across from us.

"My name is Professor Charles Xavier, I'm the headmaster here at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. There is no need for fighting. We would just like to talk."

"Famous last words," Babs said dryly.

"Very true Miss Gordon, very true," Xavier said with a smile.

"How do you know my name?" She snapped.

"He's the telepath," I told her, the pieces falling into place.

"Yes. I am a telepath. And might I say, I was very surprised by the quality of your mental shields good sir. They were a most impressive block. I couldn't even get your name while you were sleeping."

"My wife's the most powerful telepath on the planet, she's good at mental shields," I told him smirking. Xavier frowned.

"Interesting."

Which begs the question, surely, she would have noticed I was back and contacted me by now? Unless…

"A.T.M.A, where are we?" I asked.

"I beg your p…" Xavier began but stopped when a voice he obviously didn't recognise answered the question.

" _The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, 1407 Graymalkin Lane, North Salem, New York State."_  The jaws of the people in the unique collection of individuals around us all dropped.

"Which Earth A.T.M.A?" I clarified.

" _Earth 61."_

"And why exactly are we on Earth 61?" I asked, gritting my teeth in annoyance.

" _Because you told me to take you back to Earth. I took you back to Earth. Stop complaining."_

"I preferred it when you didn't talk back," I told the voice.

" _Where's the fun in that?"_  I sighed and dropped my shield.

"Hi. My name's Josh O'Neill, this is Barbara Gordon. We're superheroes from a parallel universe. Nice to meet you." I said, holding my hand out to Xavier in a gesture of apology. He took it gladly.

"Nice to meet you. It's not every day you get a visitor from another universe."

"I don't think we can stay long," I told him, glancing back at Babs. "We need to get home. So, if you could take us to our gear, it would be greatly appreciated."

"Of course, it's downstairs in the lab," Xavier said, before leading us to another elevator. The guy with claws snarled at me as I walked past him.

"I don't trust these guys Chuck." He said.

"But I do Logan, and the least we can do is give them their clothes back and send them on their way."

 

* * *

 

We were standing outside Xavier's gigantic mansion/school, Xavier's staff, who it turns out call themselves the X-Men and are Superheroes in their own right were seeing us off.

"So how do you go back to your world?" The blue guy, whose name was Hank, asked. He was the sciencey one of the group I had quickly realised.

"I just have to use my powers to tear a hole in the fabric of Space-Time," I said rubbing my hands together.

"And your powers where do they come from? We tested your DNA while you were unconscious, and it's certainly corrupted in numerous ways, your cells are full of a strange type of radiation I've never encountered before. But there was no presence of the X-Gene at all, so your definitely not a Mutant. It's quite fascinating."

"It's a long story," I hesitated, debating whether I should tell them the truth or the story I had been telling the press for the past 10 years. "I came into contact with an extra-dimensional energy source when I was a kid. Now I can manipulate emotional energy and do whatever I want with it." I lied. It's just easier. I hate having to explain that I don't have actual powers.

"Like this," I said, holding up my hand, but instead of thinking about Earth, I thought about home. The blue Breach shimmered into existence.

"I am so happy that worked," I whispered to Babs and she laughed.

"Thank you for your help," I said, turning back to the X-Men.

"You might not have met us in your universe yet. But, word of advice, if you ever encounter something calling itself the Phoenix, keep it away from a girl called Jean Grey. It will save a lot of people's lives." Logan said, scratching the back of his head.

"I'll keep that in mind," I told him.

Then together, Batgirl and I walked into the Breach.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "The Scattered!" chapters are over and the Justice League is getting ready to reunite on Earth 25, which has basically gone to hell in their absence. And Bruce Wayne is dead at the hands of Darkseid, just like in the comics. Sorry all you Bat-lovers out there. Please don't kill me. But just because Bruce Wayne is gone, doesn't mean that Batman dies with him. Lord of the Rings and the X-Men though. I'm working on another story set on Earth 13, detailing the story of the Fellowship that I'm having lots of fun with. But it's slow going, because despite using the same plot elements, using characters like the Green Lantern Corps, Superman, Doctor Strange and numerous other Avengers and Justice League characters requires me to create lots of new plots and stories to make things interesting, so don't expect anything anytime soon. I will, however, tease Legend of the Dragon 2 and the as yet unnamed Fellowship story in a post credit scene. So sit back, relax and wait for issues 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Multiverse Crisis Event.
> 
>  
> 
> The X-Men will return.


	29. An Immovable Object

Event – Multiverse Crisis (#4)

#  An Immovable Object

 

* * *

**Midtown, Manhattan Island, New York City, Earth 25**

Babs and I stepped out of the breach into a war zone. The first thing we noticed was the red sky.

"Duck!" Babs yelled and we dropped to the ground as a Parademon flew over our heads and slammed into the building behind us. We looked out in front to see a hero wearing a black costume with a yellow lightning bolt across the front, fighting seven demons at once. She had a purple glow surrounding her. Ms Marvel.

"I've got the left," I told my red-headed companion as we ran to help. I jumped forward, clubbing one Parademon with a giant baseball bat. I created two symbols and crashed them together, disorientating the next one before sucker punching it with a giant white fist.

Babs ran up to her first Parademon, unloading a Batarang into its side. It detonated, sending it to the ground. She then used it as leverage to launch herself into the air, using her grappling gun to puncture a hole through another demons head, before swinging it around and smashing it into another Parademon, then a traffic pole.

Carol watched as the Dragon and Batgirl appeared for the first time in months and took out the Parademons around her like child's play. She narrowed her eyes and blasted the ground, tripping up the Parademon that was attacking her, before grabbing it and sending it flying overhead.

"Take that!" She yelled, flying up in the air before slamming down on the last alien.

"Dragon! Batgirl! You're back! It's so good to have you back!"

Ms Marvel jumped at us both, enveloping Babs and I in a hug.

"Squeezing Carol. Squeezing!" I groaned before she let us go. She awkwardly scratched her head, realising what she had done.

"Sorry. It's just, you guys have been gone for four months. We were starting to worry you wouldn't make it back. It's so good to see you."

Four Months!

Oh, my gods. Kate! I should never have left!

Then I got a splitting migraine as Kate's voice echoed through my skull.

" _JOSH O'NEILL! YOU SON OF A BITCH!"_

"Katelyn! Oh my gosh, it is so good to hear your voice." I said. Out loud. Both girls started looking at me funny.

"Pregnant telepathic wife remember," I said and the duo smiled in recognition.

" _Oh don't think I'm not furious with you too Miss Gordon!"_  Katelyn snapped, this time so all three of us could hear.

"Wow? So that's what it's like to have someone in your thoughts?" Carol whispered to Babs.

"Katelyn, I'm sorry. We both know you've already read my mind and seen what I've been through these last few days so you already know that I am. But we can't have this argument right now. There's an alien invasion going on. Are you safe?"

" _I'm on the Watchtower. Don't worry."_

"Is the baby…" I had to know.

" _Ready to pop, but not out yet. Don't worry, you haven't missed it."_

"Oh thank gods." Relief flooding my brain.

"Katelyn, as much as I don't want to ruin the moment, we need to know what's happening here. Can you do your memory transplant thing?" Babs asked, anxious to figure out what was going on.

" _Sure. Carol, can I borrow your brain for a sec?"_

"Do I have a choice?"

" _Not really no."_

Suddenly memories of everything that had happened since the battle started flashed before my eyes. The initial tear. Stark confronting it. The Parademon arrival. Stark calling in the network. The entire battle so far (which was several hours long!) from Carol's perspective. I watched in horror as I saw one of the Demigod Trireme's come crashing down, watching Ray Palmer, the Atom, sacrifice himself to stop one of the Parademon ships from killing over a hundred civilians being rushed into Stark Tower by Coulson and his team. It was terrifying. Then I felt her surge of hope at seeing us step out of the portal.

"Ok. We're all caught up." I said, reaching my hand up to my ear, where my League com was still in place.

"Justice League! This is the Dragon! No. This is not a trick. I'm here with Batgirl. Oracle and Ms Marvel have caught us up on what's going on. I want to say right now that I am incredibly proud of what all of you have done so far today. You've already been fighting for hours and your winning. You've kept the Parademon army from escaping the city and kept civilian casualties to a minimum. That's your job. And you've all done it brilliantly. But the jobs not over yet. We haven't come back with some secret weapon, but we can come up with a plan. And having two fresh heroes can't be a bad thing."

" _Make that four Dragon!"_  Supergirl's voice rippled over the com unit.

"Good timing Supergirl, where are the others?"

" _Flash is here with me, we just got back through the Stargate. Superman and Batman are still MIA."_  Kara explained.

" _It's good to have you back in any case,"_  Oliver exclaimed, the sound of what had to be an explosion coming across the connection for a second.

" _Batgirl are you guys ok?"_  Dick Grayson's frantic voice asked.

"I'm good Nightwing, a couple of bumps and bruises but that's it."

" _Good. Thanks for blowing my cover by the way."_

"What."

" _I'm wearing the Batman armour."_

"Well sorry 'Batman'" Babs said patronisingly.

" _As much as we all love to listen to your lover's quandary. Anybody got any ideas on how we finish this? These guys just keep coming."_  Stark said.

"We'll keep you posted Stark. For now. Justice League! We got this!" I yelled, launching up into the sky, while Babs and Carol ran off to engage the next group of demons.

The city looked even worse from altitude, most of the buildings were smoking. Some had collapsed altogether. Only Stark Tower stood undamaged. A beacon of light, protected by a blue force field. I watched as several flashes of green light burst across the sky over Midtown. I narrowed my eyes and flew towards it, eager to finale join the fight for Earth.

* * *

**Bleedspace**

"So how do you know about us?" Clark asked, speaking up for the first time since they had left Apokolips. Josh spun around in his chair and looked at the Kryptonian, a quizzical expression on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Back in the prison. You said it was an honour to meet you like you never expected to meet us."

"Oh, that." Josh reached behind his head awkwardly and scratched his head. "Well, you see… um… I've been reading about you guys my entire life."

"He's not kidding. I've seen the library of books in the basement of his parent's house. It's bloody huge." Katelyn said.

"For the record, they aren't all his books. About half of them are mine." Claire said, turning away from the view screen to wink at Clark.

"As I was saying." Josh continued, glaring at Kate who just shrugged. "Your adventures are legendary on my world. All the Justice League's missions are."

"I hate to break this to you, but most of those stories are fake, or at the very least exaggerated," Clark said, but Josh was already shaking his head.

"That's what I thought at first. Our world doesn't have superheroes, so there isn't really anything to compare it to. Then I started doing this. Time travelling, planet hopping, world saving, dark lord defeating. A lot of the books on our world reflected the situations we found ourselves in. The Lord of the Rings…"

"That was fun," Jason stated.

"Game of Thrones…"

"Not so fun," Cam said with a shudder.

"Elder Scrolls…"

"Gods that was weird." Claire pointed out

"Terra…"

"Boy was that confusing…" Katelyn said with a laugh.

"We even met Harry Potter."

"Definite highlight," Claire said.

"Speak for yourself," Kate grumbled.

"So when we met Riker Celestial, he confirmed that everything we read about in United Comics was actually happening in a place called Earth 25. But I never thought I would actually get to meet you! Superman himself!"

Clark sat silent for a few minutes, processing that. How many parallel universes were his adventures documented? It was a scary thought.

"So, this whole Multiverse thing, explain it to me, in a way that I will understand," Clark asked, standing up from his position on the floor and walking over to the others.

"I'll try. The Multiverse is a set of infinite and finite possible universes, including your universe, which the Asmerians designate Earth 25. Every time someone or something faces a choice, there is a point of deviation. Say you are trying to decide between having Wheat Bix or Coco Pops for breakfast. You decide to have Coco Pops, but what if you had eaten Wheat Bix? That point of deviation creates another universe, a parallel universe, where everything is incredibly similar but slightly different." Josh said and Clark nodded his understanding.

"As such," Katelyn picked up, "everything that could possibly have happened in every individual persons past, but did not, has occurred in the past of some other universe or universes. There is a world where Hitler won World War 2, one where JFK was never assassinated, one where the Americans lost the Revolutionary War and so on. The world we come from is called Earth 28 – it's a Base World. In other words, it's one of the original points of deviation. I don't know about your world, but considering the low number, you can be pretty sure it's more unique than say Earth 1500 or something."

"What's it like, your Earth? You said it doesn't have superheroes, but it must have advanced technology to have built this." Clark reasoned, looking around.

"Not even close, our world isn't even close to yours in terms of tech." Jason scoffed.

"Then how did…"

"We found it." Claire said, "It's Asmerian, we just use it. On the condition we don't break the accords, of course. But we aren't Ascended Beings so most of the rules don't apply."

"Which is certainly helpful," Cam said with a laugh.

"So a bit different to mine I take it."

"Well for starters our Earth has a twin planet that's inhabitable," Kate said and Clark's mouth fell open, causing everyone to laugh.

"11 planets in total, if you count Pluto, which we do," Claire said.

"So how do you guys do what you do? You obviously have powers of some description." Clark asked. He wasn't asking questions because he really cared about the answers, it was more because he needed something to think about, something to keeps his thoughts from travelling to Bruce.

"We're magic users," Josh said as if that explained everything.

"Magic? As in abracadabra?"

"No. And I'd be careful how you pronounce that," Kate said and everyone laughed as if it were some sort of inside joke. "There are these subatomic particles called Magicka, which allow us to control the elements and re-write reality. Each race uses it and harnesses it differently."

"Race?" Clark questioned.

"Well yeah. The Elves tend to use dimensional and nature-based magic, they have a deeper connection to it than any other race. Dwarves like to use technology to harness magic rather than wield it themselves, Wizards tend to focus more on reality-bending and Chaos Magic, Druids prefer elemental magic and so on." Josh explained with a shrug.

"So you guys are…" Clark trailed off, hesitant to say anything that could be inferred as rude.

"Oh! Human, very much human. Except Kate, she's half-elven." Jason said pointing at Katelyn.

"Really?" Clark asked, looking to the woman. She shrugged and pulled her hair back, revealing ears with pointed tips. They weren't very well defined and were no larger than normal. If they hadn't pointed it out, he would never have noticed.

"So humans can use Magic too then?"

Kate was about to reply, but Claire interrupted her.

"Superman, brace yourself. We're here."

* * *

**East Village, Manhattan Island, Earth 25**

Hal landed on the deck of one of the Trireme's, blasting a Parademon in the face before disembowelling another.

"Lantern! Duck!" He heard a woman yell. He dropped to the ground as a knife flew over his head, impaling itself in a Parademons face. A brown haired woman ran over and pulled the knife out, whipping the green blood off on her faded jeans.

"Thanks." He said as he stood up.

"Out of the way!" a man with curly hair yelled as he charged through him and the girl.

"Leo! What's going on?" The woman yelled.

"One of the carriers has broken off and is headed east! It's trying to break the blockade!" Leo yelled. He grabbed one of the giant crossbows mounted on the bow and swung it to the left before firing. The bronze bolt leapt from the ballistae, hurtling the sky, straight for one of the sharp black ships flying between the skyscrapers, heading away from the battle. The bolt struck the side of the ship, before exploding. The ship smashed into a tower, burying itself inside the glass and steel structure.

"I'll take care of it. Keep those things out of the sky!" Hal blasted into the air, rocketing towards the downed ship. Starfire, dressed in her customary indigo suit joined him as he flew in.

Hal created five construct attack dogs and set them loose in the building to hunt for any surviving Parademons while Starfire glided over his head, green balls of energy in her hands.

"I think that's all of them." The alien said.

"Good. Ring is the building clear of civilians?"

" _Negative. Third floor, second door on the right."_

"Stay here. I'll get them." Hal told her before flying out the window and down to the side of the building.

* * *

**Lower Manhattan**

Iron Man flew directly underneath a horde of Parademons, dissecting them with the lasers attached to his forearms.

"Sir, I'm pleased to inform you that the bulk of the National Guard forces have finally arrived. Several squadrons of tanks are proceeding onto the island from Jersey City as we speak. Satellites are also detecting two destroyers rounding the tip of Long Island."

"About time. Oracle? You seeing this?" Stark said. Oracle's face appeared on his heads-up display.

_"What's happening down there Stark?"_

"The cavalry is here."

_"Good. I'll get in touch with the President and advise him of the situation."_

"Sir, you have one of the carriers advancing on your position."

Stark spun around and sure enough one of the giant pencils, as he had taken to calling them in his head, was headed straight for him.

"Jarvis plot me a course to Hulk." Iron Man fired up his jets and dropped down to street level, where the Parademon craft would have less ability to move. Several traffic poles were destroyed as Stark weaved through buildings, drawing the ship towards the Hulk, who Katelyn had telepathically directed (with the help of Banner's subconscious) to defend the World Trade Centre and the several thousand people caught up inside it at all costs.

"Hulk! Up high!" Stark yelled as he flew over the giant green behemoth. Hulk jumped up and punched a hole in the bottom of the ship. Iron Man spun around and launched one of his missiles straight into the cockpit, causing it to explode. Hulk then threw the disabled ship into the ground with a roar.

"I am so glad you're on our side."

* * *

**Airforce One, Location: 65000ft Above the Pacific Ocean**

"President Ellis, the tanks are proceeding into New York City as we speak. They have orders to fire on all aliens they see." The Secretary of the Army stated, rubbing his chin. Ellis was seated at the head of a table in a blacked out room deep within Airforce One, all his important advisers around him. And he was terrified. An alien invasion was not something he was prepared to handle, especially one of this magnitude. He didn't know what else to do.

" _Yeah. I don't think we should do that."_  The voice was female, but it didn't come from anyone in the room. It was like a ripple across his mind, a thought that wasn't his.

"What was that!" The Secretary of Defence exclaimed, standing up and pulling his gun.

"You heard it too?" Ellis asked, suddenly going on edge. Five safeties clicked off in unison. Suddenly the room disappeared, replaced with what looked like a hell space. The sky was burning red around a giant fissure in the clouds, on the other side was a glowing red planet with vents of flame, belching lava into the atmosphere. An explosion echoed overhead and the men began firing bullets into a green-skinned winged creature in golden armour with beady little eyes. It flew down to them, rage burning in its black eyes. The bullets bounced off its armour as if they were nothing.

Suddenly it jolted off course, slamming into the pavement as a man in a red suit kicked it in the chest. The Flash.

"What the hell is going on!"

"That's actually a pretty accurate choice of words." The female voice spoke again. The guns spun around towards a woman with tied back blonde hair wearing a black and white suit with a comet symbol displayed proudly over her chest. She wore a white domino mask covering her face.

"This is New York City right now. I'm Oracle and I have just telepathically projected your minds here. Don't worry none of the creatures can actually see you." She said. Another explosion and the Dragon flew out of a building firing beams of white light behind him.

"Look. I don't have a lot of time to explain. But I need you to keep your tanks and your soldiers on the other side of the river."

"Why? We need to deal with this now before it gets any further."

"Exactly. Look at these things." She said pointing at one of the Parademons flying above them. Batman was riding on its back with a grapple embedded in its head throwing Batarangs at the other demons. "You can't fight these things. We need you to secure the exits to the city. Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. That's where your tanks are needed. To stop any enterprising Parademons from getting beyond the perimeter that we have established. What we do need your help to do is to get the civilians still here of the island. Ms Marvel, Batgirl, Spider-man and Kid Flash are herding people into the Lincoln Tunnel underneath the Hudson River."

Suddenly the scene changed to the opening of a large freeway tunnel. Hundreds of people were running down into the tunnel at a time, being shepherded by a woman in black and yellow. A teen with lightning crackling around him was keeping the kids moving with the rest of the pack while a figure in a red costume was jumping around buildings keeping the Parademons distracted. A figure in a bat costume was ensuring that no alien went anywhere near the tunnel entrance.

"This is where your soldiers need to be. Send them to the Jersey end to marshal the people and then send in units trained in stealth to help us get the people hiding in buildings and subway stations out the same way." Oracle implored.

The scene changed again and they were standing on a bridge amidst the flaming wreckage of what had to have been one of the flying bronze and gold plated medieval boats that was flying around the city.

"This is the Queensboro Bridge into Queens. Percy Jackson, Jason Grace and most of the Demigod population are defending it from the onslaught of Parademons. They could use some back up as soon as you can get it to them."

The scene melted away and they were sitting once more on Airforce One, looking over a map of the battle. Oracle was standing in the corner by the door.

"Let us deal with the hole in the sky. If you start shooting nukes at it, we are all doomed. The portal is one way. Anything you shoot at it is going to bounce right off and impact the urgghhhh!" Oracle fell to her knees clutching her stomach. Several of the men moved to help her but she fazed out of existence before they reached her.

Ellis had to check his rapid breathing. Keep your cool. Keep your cool.

"Well, you heard her. Mobilise your forces gents. We have to give the superheroes time to deal with this."

* * *

**Watchtower**

"Katelyn! What's happening! What's wrong!" Annabeth yelled, running over to Katelyn who had just collapsed onto the floor. Annabeth dropped to her knees and looked for any injuries. Lois, Cassie and Jon ran up behind her.

 


	30. Forever Heroes

Event – Multiverse Crisis (#5)

# Forever Heroes

 

* * *

**Park Avenue, Outside Stark Tower, Midtown**

I flew towards the ground so fast I almost broke the sound barrier. Two of Coulson's Agents, Romanoff and Barton, were squaring off with Steppenwolf, Darkseid's army commander, and Kalibak, Darkseid's son. And they were holding their own. Respect.

"Justice League converge on the Tower! Converge on the Tower!" I yelled as I slammed into Kalibak's side, knocking him into a building.

Steppenwolf was a massive figure, easily the size of the Hulk. He wore a helmet with horns poking out the side and carried a giant axe that was crackling with some sort of energy. Note to self. Don't go anywhere near that thing.

I created a construct hammer and slammed him into the ground.

"Get the last of the people inside!" I yelled to the agents. Then Kalibak's hairy form smashed into me and my face ploughed into the road.

"Get the fuck off me!" I yelled. I tried to create a construct to get him off, but his breath was so bad it was stopping me from concentrating.

A crack like thunder cloud echoed across the sky, and Kalibak's weight disappeared. I rolled over in time to see a hammer fly over my head and back into Thor's waiting hand.

"You took your time," I said standing up. Barry appeared beside me.

"Dragon what's… oh. Well, you're ugly." The Flash exclaimed, getting a good look at the unconscious Kalibak.

"My apologies for my late arrival. Civil Wars in the heavens take careful planning. Were it not for Heimdall I would not have noticed your plight." Thor exclaimed as Steppenwolf jumped out of the crater I left him in.

"You will all fall before the power of Darksurrrgh!" he began before being cut off by Kara's fist.

"What was that? You didn't finish?" she taunted. Steppenwolf swung his axe at her, catching her with the hilt and knocking her aside.

"Your world will fall, like all the others!" Kalibak snarled as he got to his feet. The Hulk burst out of a nearby building and charged straight at the god wanna be, elbowing him in the face and dropping him to the floor.

We all ran up and stood next to Hulk, who was snarling at Steppenwolf and Kalibak.

"HULK SMASH PUNY GODS!"

Suddenly Superman and a walking not so pregnant, brown-haired Katelyn wearing an outfit that had to be from medieval England, appeared behind us in a flash of white light.

"Sorry, we can't stay. If Darkseid's attacking your world…" Not Katelyn trailed off.

"He could be attacking yours too. Go. If you need help, call us." Clark said, shaking her hand. The woman dematerialised with a poof and Clark walked over to us.

"Doppelganger?" I asked. Clark gave a slight nod in response.

"I leave for a few months, and the whole place goes to hell? I am seriously disappointed in you all." Clark said with a laugh before hugging his cousin.

"Looks like the band's back together," Stark said, rocketing in and floating above us.

"Not all of us," Clark said.

"Do you have any idea…" Barry asked.

"He's gone," Clark stated solemnly. The hope that had appeared in my heart seeing Superman appear plummeted like a stone.

_The doors on the far side of the room exploded, revealing the massive armoured figure of the Lord of Apokolips, eyes smoking._

" _You dare!" He yelled before advancing across the room at a speed that belayed his size._

" _Go." Bruce hissed at Clark. "GO NOW!" Batman pulled a cylinder from his belt, pressing a button and turning it into a sword. He didn't think about it at the time, but later he would realise that it was one of the Soul Steel weapons they had seen at the Multiversity. He charged towards Darkseid, and Clark made to jump after him. But Jason grabbed him and pulled him back inside._

_The door slid closed, and two screams echoed outside. Followed by two thuds against the cargo bay door._

"As in…" Batman, dead? It… it wasn't possible.

"We can't dwell on it now. Bruce gave his life so we could escape. We honour his memory by sending Darkseid his favourite toys. Justice League! With me!" Superman yelled before launching himself at Steppenwolf.

"We really need to come up with a catchphrase," Stark muttered.

* * *

**Penthouse, Stark Tower, Midtown**

In the Penthouse of Stark Tower, a sphere of blue energy erupted in the main room. The energy swirled around before condensing in one place, solidifying into three women. The first was blonde haired and carried a giant sword slung across her back. She wore black armour over her upper and lower body, but her stomach was completely exposed. She also appeared to have black wing shaped horns protruding from the side of her head. She wore a white X on her shoulders and belt. The second woman was slightly younger, and her hair was bright green with blue highlights. She wore a full body suit that was predominantly white, but with red boots and gloves and a Red X on her belt. The final woman was a redhead wearing a mostly green uniform with yellow shoulders and sleeves and a yellow skirt. She had a silver belt with the X symbol on it. Both the last two women wore domino masks.

"You sure this is the right time period Magik?" The woman in white asked.

"Spectrum. Look out the window." The redhead said with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh. Right. Sorry, Jean."

"Taylor, can you take out the security cameras? We need to move." Magik, the woman in black, asked.

"Yes, boss." Taylor, aka Spectrum, held up her hand and all the cameras went dark.

The trio walked into the kitchen and then into Stark's walk-in fridge.

"Hmmm. It looks smaller than I remember." Spectrum said as she walked in.

"You were smaller then too." Jean pointed out.

"Good point."

"Here he is." Magik said as she reached the frozen form of Captain America.

"It's so weird seeing him like that," Taylor exclaimed.

Magik placed her hand on the large metal cylinder containing the captain's frozen body and teleported it and the girls back into the lounge room.

"You sure you know how to do this?" Jean asked her friend, placing her hand on Taylor's shoulder.

"Don't worry; I've still got all the powers I need."

They removed the lid on the Captain's capsule, and Spectrum held her hands over his body. Her hair shifted to full green and began to glow. She reached out, combining Jean's telekinesis with Magik's teleporting and Jonny's fire, to sense the bonds between the atoms, and exciting them all at once.

A ding rang out behind them and Magik, and Jean spun around, ready to attack the intruder. It was Phil Coulson and his team; guns pointed at them.

"Stand down and move away from Captain Rogers now," Coulson said, anger clear in his voice.

"Zero Seven, Zero Four, One Eight. We're friendlies Agents." Jean said, raising her hands in the air. She jabbed Magik with her elbow, and she begrudgingly complied.

"How do you know that code phrase?!" Coulson snapped.

"AC…" Skye whispered.

"How!"

"Isn't that kind of obvious considering what that code is for?" Jean said with a smirk.

"Who are you?"

"We're the X-Men. And we've come from the future to wake up Captain America." Magik said, a giant smile stretching across her face as she planted her sword in the ground.

* * *

**Park Avenue, Outside Stark Tower, Midtown**

"HULK SMASH!" Hulk punched Steppenwolf in the face, sending him flying straight back into Thor's waiting hammer. Mjolnir collided with Steppenwolf's ribs, leaving a square dent in his armour. The Apokaliptian fell face first into the tarmac, and Superman dropped from the sky, hammering his fist into Steppenwolf's head, an audible crack indicating the back of his skull shattering.

"This is for Batman," Superman said, lifting Steppenwolf up by the neck, before slamming him back to the ground.

Kalibak punched Kara in the stomach before shoving his shoulder into her jaw. Barry roundhouse kicked him in the back of the head, while I came around with a sledgehammer and nailed him in the face. Kalibak recovered quickly, sweeping me aside with a sidekick. I flew backwards, colliding with Superman, sending him sprawling to the floor, and giving Steppenwolf a chance to jump to his feet and kick Thor's feet out from under him.

Steppenwolf summoned his axe back to him, but Iron Man grabbed it before it could reach his hand. He blasted away from the battlefield, clearing the area and taking the weapon out of play, leaving Hulk open to go mono el mono with him.

Meanwhile, Kara had recovered and was unloading her heat vision into Kalibak's chest, igniting the oils in his body hair.

Barry jumped up ran circles around him before throwing a bolt of lightning supercharged with the Speed Force straight into his chest, and Kalibak fell to the floor shaking.

Thor jumped back to his feet and called down a lightning bolt to finish off Steppenwolf, whom Hulk had just dropped as if he were nothing.

I got to my feet and summoned a giant construct Dragon. The beast rose up and belched white fire from its jaws before grabbing Kalibak in its mouth. It shook him for a few seconds before spitting him out, straight into Iron Man's unibeam. Kalibak flew backwards smoking, right into Kara's arms. She sped around him at superspeed, knocking all of us back with the tornado she created around herself, shattering windows as she went. She threw him up in the air, where Superman caught him and froze him stiff with his freeze breath, before punching him back to the ground. The son of Darkseid was unconscious.

Suddenly, one of the larger carriers flew out from between one of the buildings, opening fire on all seven of us. I threw up a shield construct, and the bolts of plasma bounced off. It did a 180-degree turn above us and fired some sort of missile, which went straight through my shield. It detonated sending all of us flying. Naturally, Hulk recovered first. He jumped up, colliding with the ship, tearing a gaping hole in its hull.

"Hold on!" Stark yelled, flying up and launching a missile straight inside. The ship detonated above us, raining pieces of black metal, dismembered Parademons and burning fire all around us.

"Roarrrrrr!" Hulk bellowed, beating his arms on his chest, daring another Parademon to try its luck. Iron Man hovered above him, repulsors at the ready. Superman and Supergirl stood side by side; eye's powered up, prepared to incinerate anything that moved. The Flash sped in next to Supergirl, golden electricity crackling off his body. Thor twirled Mjolnir in his hand, eager for the next bout. And I stood, knees bent, two construct swords in my hands, looking down the street, scanning for the next threat.

* * *

**Penthouse**

"So you're from the future?" Skye asked.

"Yep," Jean said with a shrug.

"I have so many questions."

"Let me stop you right there. We have been given specific instructions from you, our version of you, on exactly what we can and can't say." Jean explained, holding her hands up.

"Can you tell us how you plan on defrosting Captain America?" Agent Fitz, Coulson's engineering expert, proposed.

"Spectrum has a unique power set," Jean said, winking at Fitz, who then blushed a deep shade of pink.

"Speaking of which, presto chango our beloved Captain has been revived." Spectrum announced.

Coulson moved over to Captain America's body just as the last particles of ice disappeared. Spectrum placed her hands on the Captains chest and shocked him with gold electricity.

"Come on. Please work." She muttered.

The captain took a breath.

"Oh my gosh! That… that shouldn't be possible." Agent Simmons, the team's bioengineer stated, "I looked for every possible way to revive him. I came up empty."

"Because you didn't have what you needed." Spectrum said, dusting off her hands. Simmons watched fascinated as Spectrum shook her head and her hair changed from green to indigo with blue highlights, then to an ordinary shade of brown.

"Well, I think that's our job done." She said looking at Magik, "Illiyana?"

The blonde nodded her head, and a blue energy field erupted around them, pushing Coulson and his agents backwards.

"Bye bye boys," Jean said as the blue energy rapidly contracted, before disappearing entirely, the three women with it.

The agents stood there, stunned. Until Jarvis's voice rang out through the tower.

"WARNING, EXTERNAL SHIELDING COMPROMISED. POWER GENERATORS FAILING. SWITCHING TO BACK-UPS."

The blue shield surrounding the building disappeared, and a Parademon carrier crashed through the window, sending glass flying everywhere. Coulson and his team all dropped to the floor to avoid the glass. The carrier doors opened, and seven Parademons ran out, firing with their arm cannons. Agent May recovered first. She dived out from her cover and unloaded a clip at the closest Parademon, sending it to the floor, squirming as it died. Bobbi and Hunter were next. Bobbi jumped up and kicked a Parademon in the face while Hunter shot it point blank, dropping it instantly. Coulson and Skye killed another, Trip took one down too. But there were still three left. But not for long. A circle of red, white and blue dissected the three monsters before bouncing off the wall and returning to its owner's hand.

Steve Rogers stood on top of the bed in the pod he had been laying in. He was still dressed in the suit he had worn all the way back in World War 2, complete with a military tactical vest and several guns and other weapons that looked very out of place in the 21st century. His famous shield was in his outstretched hand. It was literally as if one of the greatest figures of all time had stepped out of history. Which, he had.

"ENERGY SHIELDS RESTORED.  _Sorry for that Agent Coulson_." Jarvis stated.

"Someone care to explain what those things are and what's going on here?" the Captain asked, jumping out of the pod and sliding the shield back onto his arm and looking around the room to determine the source of the disembodied voice he had just heard.

"Well, Captain Rogers. It's a long story. But an army of those creatures is invading New York. And we need your help to stop it."

* * *

**Park Avenue**

"That. Was. Awesome!" Spider-Man exclaimed running up the road in front of Superman, Supergirl, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Flash and I with Ms Marvel, Batgirl, Kid Flash, White Canary and Firestorm behind her. Green Lantern, Starfire, Martian Manhunter, War Machine and the other Lanterns landed on the ground a few meters away. Dick (dressed in the Batman armour), the two Robins, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Ant-Man, Wasp and Doctor Strange ran up a set of stairs down to the ground. There was now close to 30 superheroes gathered beneath Stark Tower.

"Sensors read all the Parademons have been taken out. All the carriers too. That hive sticking out of the Crysler Building is still functioning though." Iron Man informed the group.

"Is this all of us?" Superman asked.

"Where's Batman?" Dick asked. Clark just shook his head. A clear message that now was not the time. Dick's eyes went wide, but he said nothing, accepting that whatever needed to be said could wait.

"Well, you can bet that that isn't the end of this," Barry said, pointing up at the red sky, and the tear that hung over the city ominously. Several more carriers were visible on the other side, but they had yet to move beyond the portal. And the remaining Parademon host had to be marshalled not far behind them. I voiced the thought that was on everyone's minds.

"Why hasn't he shown yet?" I said, more to myself than anything else.

"He's probably trying to wear us down so we're easy pickings." Green Arrow stated solemnly.

"Is there any way to close that thing?" Supergirl asked.

"I might be able to." Doctor Strange said, tinkering with a ring of energy on his arm. "But it would take a lot of strain and I would probably end up unconscious afterwards. But it wouldn't matter. As soon as I shut it down, Darkseid would just restart it on his side. We need to take it out at the source."

"Spoiler alert but I already tried that facial hair bro, that portal is only one way," Stark exclaimed.

"But we have a portal of our own," I said, an idea forming in my mind.

"The Stargate," Batgirl stated, catching on.

" _Testing. Testing. Is this thing on?"_  A voice none of us recognised crackled across the comm network, scaring the shit out of half of the assembled heroes.

"Who the hell is this?" Green Arrow snapped.

" _Watch your language sir. Bear with me; I have no idea what I'm doing right now."_

"Who are you?" Black Canary asked, in a much gentler voice than her counterpart I might add.

" _My name is Steve. Steve Rogers. I guess you'd call me Captain America."_  The voice replied, and my jaw went slack.

"Yeah and I'm the Terminator." Iron Man said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

" _He's not lying guys. That really is Captain America."_ Coulson's voice explained.

" _I just woke up like ten minutes ago."_  The Captain stated.

" _Welcome back to the land of the living I suppose,"_  Barry said.

" _Thanks. Coulson says you guys are fighting a war out there, and you're down your best tactician. I'm the first person to admit I don't know anything about alien space monsters or the fancy screens in this tower, but I do know a thing or two about war. And I know this city like the back of my hand. If half of it hasn't sunk into the ocean that is. It hasn't done that, has it?"_

" _Nope. Hasn't done that."_  Coulson confirmed.

Suddenly ten carriers poured out of the tear, followed by hundreds of Parademons. The hive opened up as well, also pouring out demons. Thankfully, it seemed to be out of carriers.

"Shit," I muttered.

" _Does everyone in this century swear like a sailor?"_  Steve asked.

" _No that's just Josh. He's Australian."_  Coulson said as if that explained everything, which I guess it does.

"Coulson. You and I will be having words when this is over. Assuming I'm still alive when this thing is over." I said. "Well Captain America, what have you got for us?"

" _Ok. Until we have a way to close that portal the priority has to be containment."_

"We?" Stark muttered.

" _Green Arrow and Hawkeye. I want you on opposite roofs, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Iron Man, Flash you've got the perimeter, anything gets close to the river you turn it back or you turn it to ash."_

"Fancy giving us a lift?" Hawkeye asked.

"Don't shoot each other by accident," Flash said, grabbing Green Arrow and racing away.

"No promises," Hawkeye muttered as Iron Man grabbed him.

"Better clench up Legolas," Stark said before rocketing away.

Supergirl started choking on something for a second but held up her hand indicating she was okay.

" _Superman and Supergirl. Those carriers are the biggest threats. You've got the super strength, take the bastards down."_  The duo nodded to each other before flying away.

" _The Parademons have superior numbers in the air, Lanterns and other flyers, thin the herd."_  Hal jumped back into the air, followed by Red Lantern, Star Sapphire, Starfire, Martian Manhunter, War Machine and Firestorm.

" _Canaries, take Ms Marvel and figure out a way to get inside that hive and shut it down."_ Carol and the Canaries turned around and ran up the bridge towards the Crysler Building in the distance.

" _The rest of you stay on the ground; I'm coming to you. We're going to create a big signal for this Darkseid fellow. Here we are, come and get us."_

"Where do you want Thor and I, Captain?" I asked, confused at why we were left out.

" _This Stargate you were talking about. You can use it to get to the planet on the other side of the tear?"_  Cap asked.

"Ay!" Thor stated, mashing his hammer into his palm.

" _And with the Parademon army engaging us here…"_

"Apokolips should be relatively undefended." I finished.

" _Use the Stargate to travel to Apokolips and shut down the portal, but don't do it before Darkseid comes here."_

"Why would you want him here!?"

" _Because if he's here and we can take him out, then he doesn't just rebuild his army and his magic portal and try again."_

"Tis a good plan. We will see it through!" Thor announced before grabbing me by my collar, twirling his hammer and launching into the sky. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confirmation of the X-Men's existence on Earth 25 and Captain America has awoken from his frosty slumber to find alien/demon/thingies invading New York. Poor guy.


	31. Battle Lines

Event – Multiverse Crisis (#6)

# Battle Lines

 

"Hey, who's up there on that trireme? The one that's just randomly shooting things?" Dinah called into her com as her sister Sara: The White Canary and Carol Danvers: aka Ms. Marvel ran down the road and beneath one of the Trireme's floating over the city.

"Yeah, this is Piper and Leo. Not my fault, Leo is insane when it comes to guns. Don't worry; we haven't damaged any monuments or anything important. What do you need?" A female voice that was obviously Piper said.

"Yeah, we can worry about property damage later. We need a lift to that huge hive thing where the Parademons are growing."

"Oh yeah definitely. I stole some tech off Hephaestus when he was visiting for Christmas last year. Hold your breath!" Piper told her.

"Ms. Marvel, White Canary! Grab hold of me!" Black Canary yelled, she quickly held her breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was on a massive, flying, medieval ship.

"Shit." White Canary muttered, "So that's how the demigods get aboard these things."

The moment was ruined by Carol running to the side of the boat and throwing up.

"Hey! That better not have touched the ship!" Leo yelled from the controls.

"Get over it Leo," Piper shouted to him, running to help Carol.

"Ok, ok, I'm good. Never done teleporting before, I'm new remember." Ms. Marvel said, dusting herself off.

"Good. Now, we need you to get us an opening to get to the Parademon hive. We just need a ride. Well, and an entrance." Dinah explained.

"What's the goal?" Sara asked as they headed to the hive.

"Only one. Stop Parademon production. Whether we reverse it or blow it up, I don't care." Dinah responded.

The ship glided through the city for a few minutes, before they flew up to the Hive.

"We're here," Leo said.

"Give us an entrance, then go and save the city!" Sara instructed.

Leo gave a maniac smile and ran over to forward Ballistae.

"Festus, just like we practiced!" He yelled out spontaneously. Suddenly, the bow of the ship opened up, and a giant metallic Dragon flew out. It went straight through the energy shield surrounding the hive as if it wasn't even there and perched on the side, breathing fire all over the black spiny structure. Leo fired the Ballistae right where Festus the Dragon had landed, opening a large hole in the side.

"Well, we could've just slipped through a window. But that works too. Ms. Marvel? You're our heavy hitter. We'll be right behind you." Dinah instructed.

"I'm on it!" Carol shouted, leaping from the trireme.

Ms. Marvel dived through the opening, blasting several Parademons inside before landing on the ground. The Canaries quickly followed, decking the few monsters that Ms. Marvel hadn't already disposed of.

"Ok. Now that we've taken out the guards…." Dinah said.

"We find the control panel that holds the programming to make the Parademons, and we hijack it. Simple as that." Sara said, catching on to what Black Canary was getting to.

"Well, in every tv show I've ever watched the control panel, or the important thing in general, is at the end of the creepy rows of mysterious, and/or enslaved people," Dinah said, setting off down the corridor.

As if she had predicted it the first hallway they walked down was full pods of premature Parademons, with only a couple things missing to their normal state. They weren't covered in armor yet, but they weren't struggling either. But as they got further down, they got shocked. There were animals, aliens, humans all being turned into Parademons. They were only partially changed, but they still knew they were beyond saving.

Finally, they got to the control panel.

"Now we found it. How do we destroy it?" Black Canary asked.

"I can do it. But we have to rescue anyone who isn't a Parademon first. Tell me once you've gotten everyone you can out." Carol instructed, before typing several commands into the computer.

"This is so creepy, and I time travel for a living, so that's saying something," Sara said, scratching her head as she and Dinah walked down a corridor.

"You heard her. Radio Leo and Piper tell them to get the trireme as close to the hole in the ship as possible." Black Canary said, moving down another corridor where several people were trapped, the procedures yet to begin. She pressed a button on a tiny control panel, releasing a little boy.

"Run straight that way, and you'll find someone to help you," Dinah told the kid. He jerked his head up and down several times before running off the way she pointed.

She repeated the process, sending everyone to Carol, who sent them to Piper, who helped them onto the Trireme with Leo and the other Demigods. Dinah and Sara then made their way up a level and started releasing the people in that corridor. There were several aliens, even someone who looked like a dog. That wasn't creepy at all. Slowly but surely they got everyone they could find out of the hive and onto the trireme.

"Now Carol! Do whatever you need to do now!" White Canary shouted.

Ms. Marvel pressed a final button on the control before blasting it with indigo energy.

"Let's go. If I timed it right, it should go off in ten minutes. But I wouldn't trust my programming skills so…. Run!" Ms. Marvel yelled.

The three women ran as fast as they could back to where the trireme should be.

They jumped on the trireme as fast as they could.

"Go, go go go!" Carol yelled at Leo.

The three women caught their breath and looked over the railing and back to the Hive just in time to see it detonate like fireworks.

"Leo, get us out of the city. We need to drop these people off." Dinah said.

"Sure thing boss," Leo said before swinging his Wii controllers around and steering the Trireme towards the river.

* * *

"We've got incoming!" Leo yelled suddenly as they approached the Hudson River.

"Don't worry about it Supreme Commander." Iron Man's voice blazed out of the speakers on the Trireme before he flew up over the ship and blasted a Parademon in the face. He then grabbed one by the foot and threw it towards Festus the Dragon, who proceeded to rip it in half with his mouth.

"You have a robotic Dragon? How did you not tell me about this?" Stark asked. He almost sounded insulted.

"It was need to know Iron Man," Piper exclaimed with a sigh.

"Thank you for using my correct title. You seem to be the only one who gives it any respect." Leo said smugly, glaring at Piper.

"Yeah, that was total sarcasm. Sorry!"

Leo looked devastated.

"I should shoot you just for that." He muttered, forgetting to turn the speakers off.

"With what? One of your crossbows? I don't think so." Stark said as he blasted a Parademon off the Hull and flew down under the ship.

"Get moving. That's all of them… for now." Stark said. Suddenly a giant roar echoed through the city, and Iron Man blasted off in the direction of Stark Tower.

Leo flew the Trireme over the Hudson and into Jersey City, landing it in a stadium. The army instantly converged on it, helping the prisoners disembark.

"This whole thing has been a lot scarier than I thought it would be," Carol said to Dinah as the duo leaned over the railing of the ship, looking back into the war-torn city.

"I've only had my powers for a few months. Ever since that purple ring found me. And it was damaged too. I can remember it even now. "Error. Error. Terminal damage detected, detonation imminent, must channel excess energy." It was just flying through the city saying that. Then it stopped in front of me and let out a massive glob of indigo energy and dropped to the ground lifeless. The energy ball went into me, and I don't remember anything else. When I woke up, I was in the hospital and had no control over my powers. It was terrifying. I haven't even come that far since then, and here I am, fighting in a war." She said with a sigh. Dinah patted the woman on the back.

"Don't worry, this will all be over soon." She said softly. Another explosion came from the city, and a carrier tore through one of the outlying buildings, making a run for the river.

"Shit," Dinah said.

* * *

Supergirl burst out of the crumbling building, using her heat vision to take out the turrets on its roof to stop it shooting her. Superman flew up from the ground, smashing inside the ship and landing inside. He fired up his Heat Vision and cut the ship in two. He jumped backward letting the two halves of the ship crash into the river.

The Flash raced beneath the dissected carrier, jumping up and catching a rogue Parademon and slamming it back into the ground. He hit the ground running, speeding along the highway, taking out Parademons left, right and center. He leapt over a tunnel entrance being guarded by two tanks, which fired every time a Parademon came near them. He raced around Battery Park and threw a lightning bolt into a Parademon that was about to shoot Star Sapphire before racing off. They were winning, the number of Parademons was dropping fast Barry thought. That must mean there aren't lots coming through. The army must be almost depleted! Then he heard it. A massive crunch. He stopped short and watched in horror as five skyscrapers around Park Avenue came down. That could only mean one thing. Darkseid had finally arrived.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a filler I'll admit. The Finale is next. My sister and Beta wrote this chapter so full credit to her.


	32. The End of All Things

Event – Multiverse Crisis (#7)

# The End of All Things

 

* * *

"Where do you want Thor and I, Captain?" I asked, confused at why we were left out.

" _This Stargate you were talking about. You can use it to get to the planet on the other side of the tear?"_  Cap asked.

"Ay." Thor stated, mashing his hammer into his palm.

" _And with the Parademon army engaging us here…"_

"Apokolips should be relatively undefended." I finished.

" _Use the Stargate to travel to Apokolips and shut down the portal, but don't do it before Darkseid comes here."_

"Why would you want him here!?"

" _Because if he's here and we can take him out then he doesn't just rebuild his army and his magic portal and try again."_

"Tis a good plan. We will see it through!" Thor announced before grabbing me by my collar, twirling his hammer and launching into the sky.

"I can fly myself you know!" I yelled at him as we soared past skyscrapers on our way to Central Park.

"You will have to forgive me for my enthusiasm. I have not had such fun since my days fighting with the Avengers of Earth 9."

"The Avengers? You see now that, that is a cool name. That is what I would have named the team."

"Aye. We were a mighty team. A force to be reckoned with, once upon a time."

"What happened to them?" I asked, suddenly curious as to this other life that Thor had led.

"The heroes fell victim to the Civil War, as so many others have before them. Heroes committing acts of atrocity against other heroes all because of a difference of ideals. It tore the trust of the peoples of my home Universe apart. It was then that we decided, as a people, to leave. We ascended to a higher plane of existence, leaving everything behind, and joined the Asmerians and the other pantheons in the Circle of the Gods. Sometimes I look back to Earth 9, just to see how things are going for them. Asgard may be dead. But another has taken up my original hammer and the mantle of Thor that goes with it." Thor spoke with hurt in his voice as to what had happened to these Avengers, but pride when he talked about the other Thor. It was in that moment that I realised that Thor was a lot older than he looked and that the things he took for granted would blow my mind.

"For a time I rejected the notion of returning to any of the parallel Earth's of Midgard, but it was Riker Celestial, to whom you owe your own powers, that convinced me that the lower planes should not be abandoned. Everyone makes mistakes he said, even Gods. What matters is looking past them, and seeing that our job isn't to battle evil wherever we find it. It's saving people from evil that should be our goal. Then he went into a rant about how the Angels just didn't "get that shit" and I kind of phased out." I laughed at that. Sounds like something I would say.

We landed by the lake in front of the Stargate.

"Do you know the Gate address to Apokolips?" I asked him.

Thor dropped his hammer on the ground and began to press symbols on the DHD. Apparently yes.

The Stargate lit up, the portal of blue light exploding into existence within the ring.

"Aye. I know it."

Suddenly, a massive psychic scream echoed through my head. I fell to my knees and grabbed my head. With horror, I realised that Thor was mirroring my actions. It must be citywide. What was going on? Then he heard voices.

" _Quickly Jon, get the Neural Inhibitor!"_  It was a woman's, but it was murky and faded, almost like trying to hear it through someone else's ears.

" _I've got it."_  A young male voice responded.

" _Listen to me. You need to push. Now!"_

The pain instantly stopped. And everything went back to normal.

"What in the name of Valhalla?" Thor yelled, hefting his hammer in the air.

"I think it was Oracle." I said, rising to my feet, "push...?" I muttered. Then it came to me.

"Oh, my gods! Katelyn's in labour! I have to get to the Watchtower!" I yelled jumping into the air.

"Nay! We must not abandon our mission. The world depends on it." Thor stated, grabbing my leg. I stopped, forcing myself to focus. Thor was right.

"Women labour hours to bring newborns into the world. If we finish this quickly you may make it back in time." Thor pointed out.

"You're right," I said, turning around and staring at the still active Stargate.

"Let's go kick some ass!" I yelled before flying straight through the portal. The trip was different this time. The rushing blue vortex was still there and it was still more fun than any roller coaster I had ever been on. But this time we flew in a completely different direction. The tunnel launched Thor and I across the Multiverse, past dozens of blue spheres that I now knew were alternate universes. But when I saw the giant blue cloud in the distance, the border between the Multiverse and the higher dimensions where Thor and his kind lived, we turned away from it, rocketing through a tunnel of black cloud like substances.

"This is the Oblivion Dimension!" Thor shouted from behind me, "It is here where many dark forces that plaque the Twelve Realms reside!" We hurtled past several floating islands of rock, covered in creatures I wouldn't even know how to describe. Then I saw it. In the distance, like a sun in the night sky was Apokolips. The red planet was belching lava from massive vents in the surface and had not a single speck of green or blue on its entire surface. It certainly looked like Hell.

I flew out of the Stargate, straight into a Parademon. I sliced it in half with a construct sword before summoning a meteor shower to take out dozens more guarding the black platform I had come out of. Thor jumped out of the gateway and summoned a lightning storm to incinerate everything I missed.

"You know what's been bugging me?" I asked the Thunder God.

"What?"

"Twelve Realms? I thought it was supposed to be nine. Everyone keeps saying Twelve. Why?"

Thor let out a booming laugh.

"You can blame the Angels and their infernal machine for that Dragon." He proclaimed before walking forward towards the giant black fortress looming in front of us. Shooting out from the highest tower was a red beam of energy that then dissipated to form the giant red tear that led to our world.

"What machine?" I asked him.

"Tis a long story."

"I've got time."

"The Asmerians have long debated with the Angels over how best to protect the Multiverse." Thor began his story as we made our way into the fortress lobby. He threw his hammer, carving a path through a horde of monsters while I summoned two bulldozers to clear out the wings.

"The Asmerians, whom my people happen to agree with, believe that we should be exploring the various Dimensions and Universes. That it is our job to learn and discover the majesties that are just out of our reach, and our responsibility to protect them from external interference."

We ran up a set of stairs and Thor smashed through a large metal door without breaking a sweat, sending it flying backwards into one of Darkseid's furies, knocking it unconscious. He lifted the metal off of her and turned her over. He reached down and pulled a piece of armour off the back of her neck, revealing an old scar. He stood back up and shocked her with a lightning bolt.

"What the hell!"

"Darkseid has two types of people working for him. Devotees, and slaves. This one is a slave, forced to serve him thanks to a parasitic creature called a Goa'uld twisted around her spin and embedded in her brain. You can tell by the scar. I have simply killed the parasite. She will wake up with a very bad headache in several hours." Thor explained with a wave of his hand. He then rushed forward and began to beat down the ten Parademons that had come running in from the other end of the room. I just stood back and watched as he finished them off in less than ten seconds. There's a reason he's a god I guess. And he did the whole thing while laughing and continuing his story.

"The Angels argue that tampering with the natural time-flows of different worlds disrupts the fabric of reality. And as much as we do not like it, they are right. We have seen it before." We continued through another dark hallway. I killed another two Parademons with blasts of energy as we walked.

"That is how the Multiversity Accords came into existence. We agreed to a truce in order to protect reality. The Angels and their sympathisers would stop nagging us about our explorations if we agreed not to interfere with worlds that scientists from both sides stated were crucial to reality, called Base Worlds: like Earth 0, the Arrowverse Worlds, Earth 12, Earth 33, the Marvel Prime worlds and some others I can't remember."

We dispatched another ten Parademons with relative ease. Thor took out most of them by spinning his hammer around by the strap at the end, while I took out the remainder with a combination of a Hulk construct and a chainsaw.

"The Angels were not satisfied with the conditions of the treaty. So they took steps into their own hands. They built a machine in Heaven called the Presence. A machine designed to wipe any mention of Asmere from the memories of the peoples of the Multiverse. It erased all knowledge of them, stopped ordinary people from seeing them, or even knowing that they were there. It forced my people, the Olympians, the Elves, the Dwarves and many other fantastic things into man's myths and legends. The other races were understandably furious. We severed Heven from Yggdrasil, the Worlds Tree and surveyed the damage done. Activating the Presence had side-effects as the scientists of Asmere predicted. It created memories and belief systems to replace what had been lost. I will not bother going into any further detail. You would simply forget as soon as you returned to Earth. Such is the power of the Presence. Fortunately for your people, the Presence is not perfect. It is only calibrated to work on base level humans, as such Metahumans, Mutants and a small number of humans, are protected from its affects. That is why your history only records Nine of the Twelve Realms."

"So which ones are we missing then?" I asked. I did not like the idea of having my memories altered.

"I do not understand?"

"The Twelve Realms. List them to me. I want to know which ones I'm missing."

"Well there is Heven, Realm of the Angels; Olympus; Tomorrow, Land of the Inhumans and the New Gods; Alfheim, home of the Elven Kingdom of Ljosalfheim, the Dwarf Kingdom of Nidavellir and many more kingdoms besides; Oblivion where you stand; Midgard, where the Multiverse resides; Jotunheim, abode of the Giants; Svartalfheim of the Dark Elves; Muspelheim, the Realm of Unending Fire; Niflheim, Realm of Endless Mist; Asmere, the City of Light; and Asgard, the Realm Eternal, my home. There are other Dimensions of course, Hel, Valhalla, the Underworld, The Negative Zone and the Dark Dimension all come to mind, but they are not connected to the Worlds Tree and we do not count them amongst the Twelve Realms."

"Cool." I made sure to commit that to memory. It might come in very handy later.

We burst out of the hallway and into a large hall with a broken window. Lying on the floor was a figure in a black cape.

"Oh, Bruce," I said running over and kneeling next to him. I rolled him over and saw the smoking holes left by what I assumed were Darkseid's Omega Beams. Clasped in his hand was a silver and black sword covered in a red liquid.

"Soul Steel." Thor whispered, "he must have taken it from the Multiversity."

"The end is still dripping with blood. He must have landed a blow." I muttered.

"Farewell, my friend. Your death will not be in vain." Thor stated solemnly.

"I'll make sure Gotham is safe at the end of this. I promise you that."

We both remained in silence for several minutes.

"Dragon. We cannot linger. We must reach the portal and shut it down before more of Darkseid's forces find us." Thor said, placing a hand on my shoulder. What would Bruce want me to do? I asked myself. He'd tell me to get of my ass and do my job.

"We'll have to come back for him later," I said, standing up and grabbing the sword out of his cold hand.

"It's not going to do him any good now," I said. Thor walked over and pressed a button on the hilt. The blade folded away like magic, leaving only the hilt in my hand.

" _Alert. Soul Steel blade detected. Would you like to pair?"_  A.T.M.A's voice asked.

"My magic ring has a Bluetooth setting to connect to magic swords. My life seriously cannot get any weirder." I said.

With one last look at Batman, I clasped the hilt to my belt and followed Thor into an elevator. The ride up was dominated by an incredibly awkward silence.

The elevator door opened out into a hall with a staircase at the other end. The beam of red energy fired up through a hole in the floor and out through the roof. It was completely deserted.

"The controls for this weapon must be on the roof above us," I said as Thor and I moved towards the staircase. We stopped sharp and Thor pulled me back against the wall.

We could see Darkseid standing on the roof through the hole made by the beam. He was looking upwards, probably towards the portal. And he looked mad.

"Pathetic and useless! All of them! I'll do it myself." Darkseid rose up off the ground and out of our sight.

"He must be headed for Earth. He got Cap's message." I whispered.

"It appears so. Let us ensure he cannot return." Thor replied. We ran up the stairs and I summoned a vacuum construct to suck all the Parademons and other creatures off the roof and dump them off the side of the building. Thor and I ran up to the controls, which were all in a language I didn't recognise.

"It would appear the battle draws to a close," Thor said, looking up. I followed his gaze and realised he was right. The Parademon army we had seen waiting on the Apokolips side of the portal earlier had been depleted. There were now no Parademons or carriers left in the skies of Apokolips. We watched as Darkseid went through the tear and dropped down to the city.

"Ok. Let's do this. A.T.M.A can you turn this thing off?" I asked the ring staring at the console screens. One seemed to be monitoring power output, another beam intensity. It all made very little sense to me.

" _Unfortunately, no. Apokoliptian technology is protected by a techno-organic virus to stop any different technology from interfacing with it."_

"What about a Power source? Does it have one of those? In every sci-fi movie, I've ever watched the key to destroying the superweapon is taking out the power source."

"If my scans are correct, the beam appears to be being projected from the planet's core."

* * *

**Park Avenue, Midtown**

Cap watched in horror as Darkseid dropped from the sky, landing in the middle of the road with an audible crack.

"You are mine now Justice League! Nothing can stop me. Many have tried, all have failed! I am a god!"

Steve hurled his shield at the massive figure, hitting him square in the face and knocking him backwards a step. The shield ricocheted off a wall and back into his hand.

"There's only one God. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." He yelled at the invaders face.

His team of heroes assembled behind him, and together they charged at the imposing figure. Darkseid merely scoffed and fired his Omega beams at the surrounding buildings. The beams severed the pylons keeping the buildings standing and brought them toppling down towards them.

"Take cover!" Steve yelled. Darkseid lifted up his foot and slammed it down on the ground. A massive crack opened up in the road, and the bridge collapsed, throwing everybody all over the place. The buildings came down around them, raining glass everywhere.

* * *

**Apokolips**

"A.T.M.A how many humans are on this planet?"

" _Unsure. The radiation in the atmosphere prevents me from getting a good reading. There are no human bio-signatures within a 5km radius of your position. I can only detect a few dozen Parademons and Thor."_

"What are you thinking Josh?" Thor asked. I looked up at the God, all pretences that this was a good idea gone from my mind.

"We came here to take out this portal device and stop Darkseid from being a threat. Hopefully, the others can take out Darkseid on Earth, if they can't he'll just come back and build a new army. The only way to stop him is to take out his base of operations." I said.

"You want to blow up the planet." Thor realised. He contemplated the idea for a few seconds before asking one clarification question.

"How?" I patted the sword hilt at my hip.

"If I use this to disrupt the energy flow of that beam, it should cause it to feed back into the planet's core creating a chain reaction that should cause the core to detonate, taking the planet with it," I explained. Thor was silent for a few seconds once more.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Take Bruce's body and get it back Earth, then help the others take down Darkseid. I'll deal with this." I told him.

Thor grasped my hand, nearly crushing it.

"You are a noble warrior and a good friend." He said before turning and running back to the elevator.

"Thor!" I shouted. The Asgardian turned around.

"Tell Katelyn I love her."

Thor smiled, "Tell her yourself. You will see your newborn child this day Josh O'Neill. I swear it upon the Old Gods and the New. You will not fail." With that, he turned and disappeared down the stairs. I wish I had his confidence.

* * *

**New York**

Clark smashed Darkseid in the shoulder, forcing him to drop Captain America and fly face first into the rubble. Park Avenue was devastated. The bridge had completely collapsed, as had most of the surrounding skyscrapers, leaving debris everywhere. The energy shield around Stark Tower had failed and the upper levels had suffered extensive damage. Clark quickly x-rayed the surrounding rubble to see if anyone was still alive. He breathed a sigh of relief upon the realisation that no one was actually dead. Most were trapped several feet underground unconscious, but they were alive. Hulk burst out of the ground with a roar. At least he was still in the fight. Barry appeared beside him with a spark of electricity.

"I am having the weirdest sense of déjà vu," Flash said, referencing Darkseid's invasion years ago.

"This time, he doesn't walk away," Superman said, flying at Darkseid. The Apokoliptian swatted him away like nothing, catapulting Clark into the sky, where he smashed through the helipad of Stark Tower, sending it crashing to the ground. Clark recovered and flew back to the battle in time to see Darkseid punch Hulk in the face, dropping him to the ground. Flash threw a lightning bolt into Darkseid from behind, before trying to phase through him. He bounced backwards and fell to the floor. Iron Man flew overhead, firing repulsors into Darkseid's face. Darkseid shrugged them off as if they were nothing, before unleashing his Omega Beams. Stark did a barrel role before flying in different formations to lose the beams. Then Supergirl was there, punching Darkseid in the stomach, forcing him to release the beams and step backwards. Superman came down from above, kicking him in the back as Hulk grabbed his arm and threw Darkseid back into a pile of rubble. Darkseid fired his eye beams once more but a spiralling gold portal opened up in the middle of the battlefield swallowing them, before another opened behind Darkseid and the beams flew into the back of his own head, leaving two smoking dents in his armour. Doctor Strange floated up from where he had been buried, mystical energy crackling all around him.

"SHAZAM!" A lightning bolt fell from the sky, colliding with Darkseid's gigantic form. Billy Batson had arrived.

"Took you long enough," Kara yelled as she blasted the Apokoliptian with her heat vision. Superman followed suit with his own heat vision and Iron Man with his repulsors, Flash kicked up a dust storm around Darkseid's form, obscuring his vision while Shazam hurtled another lightning bolt and Doctor Strange fired a blast of raw magic, channelled directly from the Dark Dimension. Hal Jordan the Green Lantern, Koriand'r the Starfire, Guy Gardener the Red Lantern and Carol Ferris the Star Sapphire flew in and fired their own beams of energy at Darkseid's figure, while the Demigod Trireme fired bolts of Celestial Bronze from the sky.

"ROAR!"

* * *

**Apokolips**

I jumped off the roof and down into the hole the energy beam was shooting out of, being extra careful to make sure I didn't accidentally shoot myself. I dropped down past what must have been hundreds of floors, descending deep underground before finally hitting the ground what felt like several minutes later.

The ground was covered in smoke, like a bad horror movie. There was a large metal contraption drilled into the ground, shooting the energy beam upwards.

"Ok. I am so stupid." I muttered. I unhooked the hilt from my belt and pressed the button, causing the blade to unfold. It glowed with a faint white light in the darkness. I raised the sword and tried to insert it into the energy stream. As soon as I got close an energy shield repelled my arm backwards.

"Damn it! Well, there goes that plan." I said, putting the sword down. I looked around the circular aperture for anything that might look like an off button, but there was nothing except a small exhaust port, the source of the smoke. I looked down at the sword and had a very bad idea.

"A.T.M.A? Does the ring have a self-destruct feature?"

The ring was silent.

"A.T.M.A?"

" _Yes."_

"How big an explosion are we talking?"

" _The equivalent of a Mark IX Naquadah Enhanced Nuclear Warhead. A device designed for destroying Stargates, and anything within a 100-mile radius."_  I didn't have a choice, at least that was what I told myself. If I ever wanted my family and friends to be safe I had to destroy Apokolips, and the countless number of life forms on it. It was no different to killing an army of the monsters on Earth. Actually, it was different. How many lives would I save across the Multiverse? But who knows how many lives I would sacrifice here. It was murder. Justifiable murder. But murder all the same. And it would cost me my powers. I sighed and made my choice. I slipped the Ring of my finger, watching as my suit disappeared from me for what would be, one way or another, the last time. I stood in the cave, deep in the bowels of Apokolips, and realised that it was fucking hot. I instantly started sweating and deep breathing. I held the ring over the exhaust port.

"Looks like this is my Death Star then."

" _It's been an honour Josh O'Neill."_  The Ring said.

"You too A.T.M.A. You too." I dropped the ring, my most prized possession, and watched it fall out of my reach forever. I grabbed the sword and ran to the elevator at the other end of the cave.

* * *

**New York**

Steve pulled a piece of masonry away from a fallen piece of one of the skyscrapers.

Batman and Batgirl stood inside.

"Grab my hand." He called down to them, and he helped the two vigilantes back out onto the road.

Cap, Babs and Dick turned towards Darkseid, who had broken free of the heroes hold and was now wrestling with the Hulk.

"How are we supposed to beat that thing." Cap wondered, he was starting to feel like his revival wouldn't last very long.

"With this," Batgirl said, pulling a white and black cylindrical object from her belt. She pressed a button and it transformed into a white knife.

"It's called Soul Steel, Batman and I stole one each from the Multiversity while we were there. It's the only thing that can kill him."

"We just have to get close enough," Dick said.

"Easier said than done," Cap said.

Darkseid hit Iron Man with his Omega Beams, sending the armoured hero to the ground a few meters from them. The trio ran over to him. The armour was badly damaged and was crackling with red energy.

"Jarvis! Eject!" He yelled and the suit opened up, peeling away from his arms and legs, revealing Tony Stark. He jumped out of the smoking shell and ran towards them.

"I'd get down if I was you!" He yelled as he ducked behind an overturned car. The others followed suit just as the suit exploded.

"Shit! That was my favourite armour!" Stark exclaimed, taking several deep breaths. He raised his hand to his ear and activated his comm.

"Jarvis. I need the Mark XLVI and the Bat Armour."

"Both of them sir?"

"One for me, one for them." He said shrugging his shoulders as Babs and Dick looked at him, curious as to what his plan was.

"What? You need to get closer to him. I'll get you closer to him." Two objects flew out of the wreckage of the top of the tower and down to them. Stark stood up and threw his arms out. A version of the Iron Man suit that Babs had never seen before dropped down. It was sleeker and more streamlined than his other models and had multiple Arc Reactors all over the body. It favoured Red to Gold.

The suit formed around him effortlessly, encasing him once more. The helmet closed around his head, and the eyes glowed white.

"I was saving this for the next software upgrade but whatever."

Then another suit landed next to him. It was covered mostly in silver, with an arc reactor shaped like a Bat in the chest. The helmet was designed to look similar to Batman's cowl.

"Batman commissioned it, in case he had to go somewhere he wouldn't be able to go without it. This will get you close enough. I'll let you decide who wants to use it. It will morph to your individual body shape, so don't worry about that." Stark ignited his boot jets before blasting back into the fight.

A lightning bolt arced out of the sky, and Babs saw Thor land on the ground, before smashing Darkseid into a building with his hammer.

"You take it, Babs. Your plan. Your knife. Good luck." Dick jumped out from behind the car and ran off, cape billowing behind him.

Barbara walked up to the armour and watched as it opened up, inviting her in. She could see Bruce's design in it. It was much slimmer than Stark's armour, designed with their emphasis on agility in mind, but the material was much stronger than her suit. She could see the repulsors in the palms and a utility belt that was not for show like she originally assumed. She turned around and stepped back into it. Stark's claim held true, the suit morphed to her body shape, forming around her like a second shell. The helmet closed over face, and Babs realised that the facial slit could be deployed or discarded to look more like their suits. She removed it and watched as the HUD activated.

"Good evening Miss Gordon."

"Hey, Jarvis."

* * *

**Apokolips**

I ran, faster than I had ever run before (without powers of course. I had obviously run much faster with my powers.) I bolted through the hallways, hoping beyond hope that I was actually going the right way. Where was a "you are here" sign when you needed it!

A Parademon jumped out at me, and I stabbed it with the sword. It disintegrated into black dust as soon as the blade touched it. That was helpful. I kept running.

I reached the room that Bruce had died in and stopped to catch my breath. At least I knew I was going the right way now. I leaned against the broken wall and looked out over Apokolips. Suddenly the entire planet shook as if hit by an earthquake. I looked out as the vents began belching more fire than ever before. And a fountain of lava erupted on the other side of the room, bursting through the floor like it was paper.

"Holy Fuck!" I yelled before charging for the stairs. If I didn't make it to the Stargate before the lava did, the planet exploding would be the least of my problems!

I leapt down the stairs five at a time, running through hallways and jumping overflows of lava. Fortunately, none of the Parademons paid me any attention as they were trying to figure out how they were going to survive the end of the world. I ran back into the hall where Thor had taken out the Fury. As Thor expected, the Fury was gone. It probably used the Stargate to go home the same as I was trying to I reasoned, before running out the ruined door and back down into the lobby. A massive fissure opened up in the middle of the room, and I had to dive out of the way of a piece of magma. I rushed to my feet, nearly tripping on a molten Parademon as I rushed out the main doors. I couldn't help but gasp.

All of Apokolips was aflame, burning, the ground was cracking open, throwing fire and brimstone into the skies. I looked up in time to see the beam shut off and watched with a sigh of relief as the giant red tear sealed shut. I had done it. I had saved the world. Now I just had to save myself. Everything was shaking now and it was hard to walk straight. I tripped over a dozen times as I made my way to the DHD. Eventually, I reached it and pulled the card out of my wallet, which I thankfully still had on me after this whole thing. I pushed the first symbol and the gate lit up. Then the platform let out an almighty creek. A geyser of lava shot up, severing the bridge between the fortress and the platform the Stargate sat on. Then the platform started to tip. I chanced a quick look down and saw a massive pit of bubbling lava ready to consume the entire platform. Oh, come on! I pushed the remaining symbols, all the while gripping the DHD and the sword like iron. The Stargate opened like a beacon calling to safety. Then the platform lurched over, and I lost my grip. I hurtled over the DHD and fell straight through the Stargate, seconds before the entire thing was swallowed up.

* * *

**New York**

"Noooooooooo!" Darkseid boomed as Apokolips exploded just before the tear sealed itself shut. The red sky's vanished and the clouds dissipated, replaced by clear blue skies and a golden sun.

"For Midgard! Thor yelled, jumping on Darkseid and clubbing him in the jaw with his hammer.

"Hold him down!" Stark yelled, "We've got a plan!" Superman and Supergirl pulled Darkseid's legs out from under him, and Hulk pinned his head down with his foot. Green Arrow jumped over Darkseid's body, shooting an ice arrow into his chest, enveloping his body in a glacier. Shazam hurled a lightning bolt at him.

"Hulk get back!" Batman yelled.

"By the Crimson Bands of Cytorak!" Doctor Strange exclaimed and giant red energy bands enveloped Darkseid's body, pinning him to the road.

"Together!" Hal yelled and the lanterns used their powers to create a shield over Darkseid's eyes, temporarily containing his Omega Blasts.

Babs flew towards Darkseid, jumping up and using the extra force of the boots to drop herself towards where logic said his heart should be. She brought the knife down, arcing towards his chest. She was so close to ending this.

Then it went wrong. Another psychic scream rang out across the battlefield, followed by the words,  _"You're so close!"_  Everyone not protected by an Iron Man helmet stopped what they were doing and fell to the ground in pain. Darkseid broke free and punched Babs out of the way. She smashed into a car, dropping the knife halfway between her and Darkseid. Then Barry was there. He recognised the knife and grabbed it at superspeed, doing his best to move faster than the psychic wave. One final scream rang out. But it wasn't the woman. It was a child's scream.  
"Kara!" Flash shoved Supergirl out of the way of Darkseid's Omega beams, narrowly missing getting fried himself. Superman picked up the knife and Barbara saw him look at it for several seconds, as if trying to figure out what to do with it.

Clark watched the scene at superspeed. He watched Barry run with Kara, the beams of energy following them around the battlefield. He watched Captain America throw his shield at Darkseid in slow motion, no hesitation. Iron Man fired his unibeam while Barbara struggled to stand up in her Starkified armour. Dick Grayson, walking in the steps of his predecessor so easily it hurt, detonating a flashbang at Darkseid's feet. Hulk suspended mid-charge, prepared to go another round. His arm was burnt black and he had blood dripping down his jaw. Doctor Strange was preparing another spell behind Hal Jordan's construct shield. He took a breath and listened. He could hear Lois and Jon's hearts beating from safe inside the Watchtower, he could hear a baby crying, and Cassie's armour clinking as she took her new sister in her arms. He could even hear Spider-Man, trapped so deep under the rubble that he couldn't even see daylight, let alone get out. All these people, the people that mattered most to him. His family. His friends. His Life. This was why he had been sent to Earth. To protect them. He looked down at the Soul Steel knife in his hand. The only thing that could end this. But to do it, he would have to do the thing he swore he would never do again. He hadn't done it since Doomsday, and not even Doomsday had caused this much destruction. He knew what he had to do.

Superman blasted forward at supersonic speeds, blasting everyone backwards with the sheer force of it. He grabbed Darkseid by the throat, meeting his Omega Beams with his own Heat Vision. He could feel it. The Solar Flare, just under the surface. He yelled as he pushed all of his power into his heat vision, forcing Darkseid's beams back into his own skull. His hand closed around the knife hilt.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed. And he pushed the knife home, straight through his armour, and into his heart. Darkseid's vision shut off, and Superman burnt out all his energy, blasting two holes straight through Darkseid's skull in the process. He felt his strength leave him, and he fell from the air. Supergirl caught him and lowered him to the ground. Everyone stood very still, watching with baited breath. Darkseid's body fell backwards, crashing to the dirt. Then it started to disintegrate. His arms and legs crumpled into black dust, dissipating into the atmosphere. His body broke into pieces, and his head; vaporised.

Darkseid was dead. At the hand of the Superman.

 


	33. Disassembled

Event – Multiverse Crisis (#8) Finale

 

#  Disassembled

 

When I hurtled out of the Stargate, the first thing I heard was a baby crying. Then it was gone, and I landed in the lake. A welcome result compared to Apokolips. Ok. I'm done. So totally done. I floated on my back and looked up at the blue sky. I don't think I have ever been so happy to see the colour blue. Then I heard an explosion.

"Ok, Josh. Time to get up." I moaned as I sat up and paddled to shore. I picked up the sword, folding away the blade and putting it in my pocket. I wasn't letting that go anytime soon.

"Kara," I said in a conversational tone. "If you wouldn't mind sending your boyfriend to pick me up please."

I waited a few seconds before I was enveloped in a swirl of lightning.

Barry dropped me in the middle of what would charitably be described as a crater. Kara and Steve were holding up a slumping Clark. Stark was wearing a new armour I hadn't seen before. Barbara was standing next to Dick, and Billy decked out in her own Bat inspired armour. When did that happen? Doctor Strange was either unconscious or asleep next to a car. Oliver was helping Clint, who appeared to have a broken leg, hobble over to join the group. Hulk was sitting down on his arse nursing what was probably a broken jaw, and Thor was cleaning Mjolnir with the remains of someone's cape.

"So, we won. Go us." I said eventually.

Stark's helmet folded back, and he sat down next to Hulk.

"Why does it feel like we lost?" Barry asked suddenly, picking up on the sombre mood of the group.

"Because we did," Clark said. "Look around you. New York City is wasted."

"Not to mention we've lost several of our own in this fight." Babs pointed out.

"Josh? Why are you not in your suit?" Thor asked, realising that I was drenched and in regular clothes.

"I used the ring to blow up Apokolips. It was the only way." I said with a sigh.

"You blew up the planet! We saw it from here!" Billy exclaimed, with an expression on his face that seemed to be a cross between horrified and thrilled.

"You maxed out the ring?"

"No. I set it to self-destruct, dropped it into the planet's core then only just managed to escape the ensuing inferno. No more powers for me." I think that last part was more for me than them. Just to make myself believe it.

"So, one of us is dead, one of us is powerless, and one of us is a murderer. How the mighty Justice League has fallen." Clark said. My jaw dropped in shock. I knew that tone of voice. It still haunted me in my dreams. It was the voice you used when you had given up.

"Clark, what is wrong with you?" Kara asked her cousin, concern etched on her face.

"I killed someone Kara. It doesn't matter that it was someone who was pure evil and completely deserved it. He didn't have to die. We could have done it another way." He said.

"Are you kidding me! Are you fucking kidding me! Our leader, our friend, died for you. I sacrificed my powers for this. You did what you had to do, Superman. You ended it. Now stop wallowing in your sensibilities and pull yourself together!" I snapped.

"You don't get it Josh! My parents made me swear never to use my powers to kill anyone. Even if they deserved it. I just spat in the face of their memory."

"My parents were killed by terrorists Kent! My whole family. Dead. In an instant. Do not bring up what your parents wanted for you. You're a superhero goddammit. Act like it. We're supposed to be better than them. How many millions of lives do you think you have saved today? All because you had the balls to do the right thing!"

"And then what? Where does it end? Do I go into Arkham and kill the Joker to stop him from killing any more people? Maybe I should go back in time and kill every S.H.I.E.L.D agent I can get my hands on, so all the lives they ruined would be saved, including yours. Where does it end? We know where that path leads, we saw what my doppelgänger did in that other universe. The world they call Injustice. I won't follow it; I won't walk that path. Do you understand me! Killing is not the answer. I don't care what you think or say."

Clark pushed away from Kara, standing on his own two feet. He looked up to the sun and took a long deep breath.

"Superman isn't just a person. He's a symbol. A symbol of hope in the darkness. A symbol that says that good always prevails in the face of adversity. And I broke that symbol today. I am no longer fit to wear the symbol. I'm no longer worthy of being Superman." Clark said before turning and walking away. We all watched, shell-shocked, as Clark Kent walked down the road and into the heavily damaged Stark Tower.

"Three, down. Five left." Stark said, more to himself than to the rest of us.

"No Superman. No Batman. No Dragon. Are we even a team anymore?" Barry asked.

"I don't know," Kara admitted. Then Captain America stood up. He walked forward so everyone could see him, and addressed the group.

"I know I've only been in this century for an hour or two, and I know that everyone is hurting. Both physically and mentally. But right now, we need to put this behind us and look around. This city still needs help. There are a dozen heroes and maybe even hundreds of civilians trapped in the rubble beneath us for starters. They need help. The people in this city still need help. I know everyone's tired. And you all deserve to be. But we've still got a job to do."

"Agreed," Dick said, stepping forward.

"Well-spoken Captain Rogers," Thor said quietly. Hulk just huffed, before slowly rising to his feet and beginning to push a large piece of stone away.

"Stark, I need to get to the Watchtower. I think my wife just had a baby." I said, walking over to the armoured hero and helping him to his feet.

"How does it feel to be grounded." He asked. I looked around at the chaos and the debris.

"Somehow, I think it's going to hurt a lot more in the coming days."

"My new armour has boom tube tech built in. So I can just open one…" A boom echoed through the silence that had enveloped New York as the tube opened.

"Thank you," I said, before jumping into it.

I stepped out in the cold and silence of the Watchtower. Lois was waiting for me.

"Josh, I'm proud to say that you are the father of a beautiful, healthy baby girl." My heart fluttered involuntarily.

"Where are my girls?" I asked her.

"Katelyn's in her room, Cassie's with her."

"Thank you," I told her. "For everything you've done for Katelyn while I've been gone."

"Don't mention it. We made a deal remember."

"I remember." Lois smiled and walked away, while I walked towards our quarters.

I opened the door, and Cassie jumped at me. Colliding with me and almost tripping me over, thank gods she had taken her armour off.

"I missed you so much Dad," She said, crying into my chest.

"Dad?" I said, choking up.

"I've had a lot of time to realise I never said it to you. That's going to change." She whispered.

"You're making me cry Cas," I said, tears welling in my eyes.

"I love you Dad."

"I love you too baby girl."

Cassie dropped to the floor, and half dragged me to the edge of the bed. Katelyn was sitting with her back propped up by the pillows, tears streaming down her face. In her arms was a tiny bundle.

"I knew you'd come back. I knew it." She muttered.

"I made you a promise."

I looked down to the tiny little girl cradled in my wife's arms.

"Did you decide on a name?" I asked her, completely balling now.

"Faith. Her name is Faith."

**  
**

**To be continued…**


	34. Post Credits Teaser

#  Post Credits Teaser

 

## Unnamed Earth 13 Story:

##  Jessica III

 

**Jessica slipped into the lab and looked in horror** at Barry lying on the table, completely naked, with several untreated wounds festering all over his body and thick cords sticking out from under his skin and travelling to vials full of blood on the table.

“What have they done to you Barry?” Jess whispered as she pulled the plugs out, discarding the disgusting things.

“What are you doing in here!” an old voice snapped. Jessica spun around in horror. Standing at the door of the laboratory was Saruman himself. Jess suddenly became incredibly self-conscious as Saruman looked her over like a specimen. She supposed she had never looked worse. All she had were the shredded grey pants and the humiliating thread bare shirt – that was still torn from the Ork that had tried to take her, leaving her left breast practically exposed – that she had been wearing for the past two weeks she had spent as a slave in the depths of Saruman’s fortress.

_“In Brightest Day.”_ She whispered, barely audible even to her. She felt the familiar tug at the back of her mind. Now she just had to last the next few minutes.

“I… I… I heard that the prince was here. I… I just wanted to see if it was true.” Jessica stuttered. Saruman was an incredibly powerful and overbearing figure, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight. She had to save Barry.

_“In Blackest Night.”_

Saruman grinned an evil smile.

“Yes. He is here. Rohan’s hope for the future. The ultimate weapon, the Flash, is mine.”

“What are you doing to him!” Jessica exclaimed, unable to keep her cool any longer as Saruman advanced towards her.

_“No evil shall escape my sight.”_

 “You do not ask questions slave scum. You’ve got more important things to worry about, like the punishment you’ll get from the boys tonight for going somewhere that you shouldn’t. Maybe I’ll come down to watch? Or maybe I’ll make you do something for me.” Saruman snarled. He was only three arm lengths in front of her now. Jessica was trying really hard not to pee herself in total fear. I am a Green Lantern and will not be afraid. I am a Green Lantern and will not be afraid.

_“Let those who worship evils might.”_

“What did you just say.”

“I…” she swallowed hard, “look forward to it.” I am a Green Lantern and will not be afraid. Saruman narrowed his eyes. Two arms.

_“Beware my power.”_ She felt her Ring slip onto her finger behind her back, and felt the surge of power, reminding her of her Will. Saruman’s eyes went wide in complete astonishment. He definitely heard that one. Then he started laughing at her. She narrowed her eyes, braced her legs and through her ring hand out in front of her, point blank at Saruman’s chest.

“Green Lanterns Light!!!!” She screamed and a blast of emerald energy shot Saruman across the room, through the door and into the wall. He crumpled to the floor unconscious. Jess summoned a construct wall to block the door and formed her suit. The feeling of relief washing over her as the ring removed the particles of dirt, mud and Orc that for the past two weeks had felt permanently grafted to her body. She ran her hand through her hair, and in that moment, she felt 100% the princess that she always dreamed she could be. Jess spun around and focused once more on Barry.

“Ring?”

_“Theobar’s injuries are all infected and severe. Whatever concoction is being used to keep him unconscious has nullified his healing abilities.”_

Jess placed her ring over Barry’s heart.

“Come on Barry. Come back to me.” She whispered, before shocking him the way she did to Doctor Strange after the Fords of Isen. His body bounced up before falling back to the table. A shattering noise echoed behind her, and she spun around just in time to deflect a bolt of magic with a shield. She threw a construct boulder at him, but the construct shattered upon contact with what appeared to be a magic shield. She hated magic.

“There is no escape Lantern. Your pathetic attempt at a rescue will only result in your death. But don’t worry, I won’t let it happen too fast. You will suffer greatly as I pry your ring from your hand.” Saruman said before slamming his staff on the ground.

 

##  Legend of the Dragon 2 (Not Final Name)

 

The hospital room disappeared, replaced by a snow-covered forest clearing in the thick of night. Josh was standing beside Thor, behind a line of people. The Avengers, Katelyn quickly realised based on their clothes. On the other side of the field was a figure in golden armour, with skin of a deep purple colour twice as tall as everyone else, including the Hulk. On his left hand was a gauntlet of some kind, with four stones of different colours encrusted within it, glowing with energy matching the colour of each gem. Blue, Green, Yellow and Red.

“Fun isn’t usually something one considers when balancing the universe.” The man, if he was a man, laughed, although whether it was at his comment, or at the team, Katelyn couldn’t tell.

“But this… this does put a smile on my face.”

“Avengers Assemble!!!!” Superman yelled, and together, as a team, the heroes charged forward as Josh and Thor jumped into the sky and flew in the opposite direction. The purple giant simply slammed his gauntlet into the ground, and everything went white.

 

Kate gasped as she opened her eyes in the hospital room once more. She hadn’t moved an inch.

“Anneliese is with a team searching for him in Oblivion. We lost contact three of your earth days ago.” Clara said, putting her jacket back on.

“Who… what… is he?” Kate asked. Her hands were trembling, she could feel her heart pounding in her head.

“He is the mad titan. If you think Darkseid was the greatest threat to the Multiverse, you thought wrong.” Clara straightened her jacket and walked to the door.

“Your husband will wake up Mrs O’Neill. Whether he survives Thanos however, that I do not know.” Clara left the room, the door sliding shut behind her. Kate’s knees gave out from under her and she hurled on the floor.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes: So, this is the end. I hope you’ve enjoyed this story. I know I have. The first couple of chapters were a bit dodgy I’ll admit. I might go back and rewrite them eventually. Legend 2 is not going to be posted for a while. I imagine this is no surprise, but this started while I was depressed and alone. It was a way for me to escape the reality of my life at the time. It was never meant to be published. But as it grew and grew and grew, I knew I couldn’t just keep it to myself. So now here it is. Now that I’ve finally got my brain in the write writing space, I’m actually using real writing conventions and proper language techniques. So Legend 2 is being written properly. Like a real story with the intent to be published right from the start. Like I said. It won’t be anytime soon. And when it is posted, it will be in the DC Superheroes/Marvel section rather than this section. So, until next time. Stay true to yourselves True Believers, and get pumped for Black Panther and Infinity War. Farewell from GhostDragon42.


	35. Update: The Sequel is Live!

Greetings all, GhostDragon here. I'm back to announce that the sequel is up both here and on FanFiction.net if that's your prefered viewer. The title is "The United Comics Saga: The Legend of the Avengers"

Also, the first few chapters of this story have been revised from their original versions. A revision of the initial formation of the Justice League is forthcoming.

The story is a sequel to this one. However, it is designed similar to a comic book 'jumping on point' like DC Rebirth. It is set in the same universe with the same characters, and builds on this work, but is entirely self-contained.

Synopsis: Following the events of the Multiverse Crisis, the Justice League has disbanded, and the Earth has settled into a period of peace. Superman has put aside the mantle of protector of Earth, refusing to believe in himself after he killed Darkseid to save the planet, the Dragon has lost his powers and now works to better the world through means other than punching, and the Bat-Family desperately scramble to keep a handle on Gotham following the death of Bruce Wayne.

But a Civil War is tearing apart the heavens, and the God-like beings that watch over the Multiverse are too busy fighting amongst themselves to notice that the very fabric of reality is falling apart around them. The Justice League may be gone, but Earth still needs protectors. It still needs Heroes. It needs... Avengers.


End file.
